Iraq envoys scolded during Iran visit

Responding to accusations that Shiite militiamen were training in camps outside Tehran, the Iranians claimed the facilities were being used to house members of the Mahdi Army who fled Iraq to escape arrest.

The leader of the Mahdi Army, militant Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has lived in Iran for the past year — partly because he fears for his life in Iraq and because he is studying for the high clerical rank of ayatollah.

The suspected degree of Iranian links with Shiite militiamen depends on who is making the accusation.

The U.S. military is careful to distinguish in its public pronouncements between the mainstream Mahdi Army and breakaway "special groups" with alleged closer ties with Iran. Iraqi authorities are less specific and suggest that al-Sadr's entire movement is drifting more into Iran's orbit.

This week, al-Sadr's Mahdi Army agreed to an accord to end clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City district. But fighting has not fully subsided, suggesting that some militiamen now operate out of al-Sadr's control.

Iran brokers end to Basra fighting
In late March, however, Iran helped broker an end to battles between Iraqi-led forces and Mahdi Army fighters in the southern city of Basra.

The mixed signals from Iran underscore the complexity of Tehran's role since the fall of Iran's archenemy Saddam more than five years ago.

Last year, a senior Iranian envoy, Ali Larijani, told al-Maliki that Iran considers the U.S. troop presence in Iraq a "serious danger" to Iran's national security. Then at the recent meetings, Iranian authorities said they opposed al-Maliki's goal to crush the Mahdi Army, arguing it would rob Tehran of a key ally, the Iraqi politicians told the AP.

But Iran also has taken part in groundbreaking one-on-one talks with U.S. diplomats in Baghdad on ways to calm Iraq's violence.

Vali Nasr, an Iranian-American expert who closely monitors Shiite affairs, said Tehran saw the timing of the Mahdi Army crackdown as particularly harmful — coming as more Sunni armed groups forge alliances with the United States against al-Qaida in Iraq.

"The (Iranian) argument is that the destruction of the Sadrists will weaken Shiites at a time when Sunni tribes are being armed and getting stronger," said Nasr, a professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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