standard. operating. procedure.

Drama in #Iraq: Shortly after #Muqatda_al-Sadr announced his retirement from political life, his supporters tore down the concrete barriers around the presidential palace in #Baghdad. pic.twitter.com/XFjNxvxpnD

— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) August 29, 2022

vOLdEMoRT: In his resignation statement, al-Sadr referenceded to the retirement on Sunday of Shi'ite spiritual leader Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, who called on his followers to support Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his stead. Al-Sadr claimed that al-Haeri's resignation was "not of his own volition," seemingly implying covert Iranian influence.

Al-Sadr is a vocal critic of foreign influence in Iraq, and has long sought to curb the influence of Iran-backed Shia militias in the country. After his political bloc won 73 seats in the 329-seat Iraqi legislature last year, he failed to form a government, due to opposition from the Coordination Framework Alliance, a Shia bloc allied with Iran, and al-Sadr's desire to exclude its members from a potential ruling coalition.

Al-Sadr's supporters have occupied the Iraqi Parliament since late July to prevent this rival bloc from forming a government of its own.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi, an ally of al-Sadr, remains Iraq's caretaker prime minister. Al-Sadr has called for the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections, and Iraq's Supreme Federal Court is scheduled to meet this week to decide whether parliament should be disbanded.