Iranian Majlis speaker Ali Larijani, who arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for a four-day visit, denied yesterday that he had come to Iraq to mediate between the various Shi’ite parties, in particular to bring Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his State of Law coalition under the umbrella of the National Iraqi Alliance [the grand Shi’ite coalition.]
At a press conference, Larijani said that the "elections case is an internal Iraqi affair and it is not the business of any neighboring country."
MP Sami al-'Askari, a close ally of Al-Maliki, denied that Al-Maliki and his group had returned to the National Iraqi Alliance. He said that the decision to run an independent campaign "has been taken and it is final."
Source: Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, November 6, 2009
