Protesters burn Iran consulate again in Iraq’s Najaf

Anti-government protesters burn Iranian consulate in southern Iraqi city of Najaf for third time in span of a week amid growing anger against Iran’s interference in Iraqi politics.

BAGHDAD - Anti-government protesters burned an Iranian consulate in southern Iraq for a third time on Tuesday amid growing anger against Iran’s interference in Iraqi politics.

Protesters in the holy city of Najaf burned tires and hurled them toward the main gate of the Iranian consulate, burning it for the third time in the span of a week. The building was empty at the time of the attack and there were no casualties, according to a police official.

The incident came after hours of tense standoff with security forces earlier Tuesday when protesters surrounded a key shrine in Najaf. Tens of demonstrators gathered around the Hakim shrine, demanding that al-Sadr help them enter and symbolically take control.

Sadr commands Saraya Salam, a powerful militia group. A few protesters and some elderly tribal sheikhs were eventually permitted to enter the shrine and inspect it.

The protesters believe the shrine is a center for Iranian intelligence operations, the police official said.

Officials all requested anonymity in line with regulations.

Najaf has been one of the flashpoints in the protest movement, after demonstrators torched the Iranian Consulate there on November 27 and again on December 1. The Hakim shrine has been the focus of recent violence. Three protesters were killed and 24 wounded on Saturday as security forces used live rounds to disperse them from the site. The southern city is the seat of the country’s Shiite religious authority.

Iraqi politicians and their regional allies gathered in Baghdad on Tuesday to discuss how to resolve two months of protests that brought down the government, as violence hit southern cities.

Demonstrators demanding reform have flooded the capital and the Shiite-majority south since October, in the largest grassroots movement the country has witnessed in years.

Seen as a threat to the ruling elite, rallies were met with violence from security forces and armed groups, leaving nearly 430 people dead and 20,000 wounded - the vast majority demonstrators.

After violence increased last week, prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned and talks to find a replacement intensified this week.

Among those attending the negotiations are two key allies of Iraq's main Shiite parties: Iran's Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Qasem Soleimani and Lebanese power-broker Mohammad Kawtharany, a high-ranking political source said.

“Soleimani is in Baghdad to push for a particular candidate to succeed Abdel Mahdi,” the source said, without providing details.

Kawtharany, who is Lebanese militant group Hezbollah's pointman on Iraq, “is also playing a large role in persuading Shiite and Sunni political forces on this”, the source added.

Political powers in Shiite-majority Iraq have long had close ties with counterparts in Iran and Lebanon, with the United States saying Soleimani's presence showed its archfoe Iran was again “interfering” in Iraq.

Late Tuesday, five rockets slammed into a western Iraqi base where US troops are stationed, with no casualties or damage reported by the Iraqi security forces.

In an address to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, top United Nations envoy to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert deplored the continued use of live ammunition and “non-lethal devices” like tear gas that have caused “horrific injuries or death.”

“Political leaders do not have the luxury of time and must rise to the moment,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.

She condemned what she said were “unlawful arrests and detentions” targeting anti-government demonstrators.

The UN envoy also questioned the status of the government’s earlier investigations into the use of live fire and other violence, noting that though arrest warrants had been issued, perpetrators had not been brought to account.

Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker called the killing of protesters in Nasiriyah “shocking and abhorrent,” in remarks to reporters late Monday.

“The Iraqi people are calling for genuine reform implemented by trustworthy leaders who will put Iraq’s national interests first. Without that commitment to reform, it makes little difference who the prime minister is,” he added.

President Barham Salih met with key political groups to come up with a compromise candidate for the premiership. The constitution requires parliament’s largest bloc to name a candidate for the premiership within 15 days. Then the prime minister-designate has 30 days to form a government.

Officials and experts warned of a potential political crisis because of disagreement among Iraqi leaders over which parties control the largest bloc of seats in parliament.

Abdul-Mahdi’s nomination as prime minister was the product of an uneasy alliance between parliament’s two main blocs — Sairoon, led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Fatah, which includes leaders associated with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units headed by Hadi al-Amiri.

In a sign that the political dispute remained unresolved, Sairoon addressed Salih in a letter on Tuesday reiterating that it was the largest parliamentary bloc in parliament with the right to name the next premier.

Based on this, the statement said, “Sairoon cedes this right to the demonstrators.” It did not cite any constitutional provisions that would allow the protesters to actually participate in the next prime minister’s nomination.