 The political crisis in Iraq is escalating with the country no closer to getting a government. On the one hand, the followers of Shri Akhlarik Muqtada al-Sadr have been staged in regular protests after they stormed into parliament a few weeks ago. On the other hand, the other major parties have been holding negotiations to find a way out of the dead room. Sadr has refused to take part in them. Iraq's political parties have been unable to form a government since the election in October 2021. Muqtada al-Sadr, who was in poll position, lost his advantage after instructing his supporters to resign from parliament. What positions have key political players taken in Iraq? What are the possible ways out of the deadlock? Rania Khalik of Breakthrough News explains. So when I last talked to you about Iraq, it was after the mass resignation of over 70 members of parliament that was ordered by the radical populist Shri Akhlarik Muqtada Sadr. And Sadr did this after failing to establish a government, even though he won the largest parliamentary bloc in last year's elections. So rather than seek a compromise with his Shri arrivals, he basically just picked up his ball and left the playground, if you will. So for some background on all of this, Muqtada Sadr inherited a movement of Shio followers from his father, this respected Shri Akhlarik who is of course killed by Saddam Hussein. And Sadr's militia opposed the American occupation, which is what many people remember him for. He played a key role in the sectarian civil war against Sunnis in Iraq after the U.S. invasion and occupation. And you know, Sadr was like this nationalist who rejected the occupation, but it's important to remember that he is also a religious extremist and leads the country's biggest militia. Now, some Americans who used to hate him when he was, when he fought the Americans, started to like him when he began to be perceived as being anti-Iranian, which happened in recent years. And he even started taking money from the Saudis and the Emiratis. But this didn't actually buy his loyalty. And fundamentally, you know, what Muqtada Sadr wants, he wants money, he wants power. He doesn't have a clear ideology. He's really not serving any particular agenda, but his own. And it's important to recognize and remember that. Now, his Shi arrivals are a collection of parties that are in this coalition called the coordination frame or the frame. And they include allies of Iran who are close to the resistance and to represent the paramilitary groups who helped defeat ISIS and then clashed with the Trump administration. And these are the groups that you'll often hear in American media being referred to as Shia militias, pro-Iranian Shia militias or Iranian-backed Shia militias. Now, Sadr, back to the situation, Sadr had proposed his cousin as prime minister, but he failed to get enough Kurds and Sunnis and Shias to form a government. So the frame proposed this technocrat and former minister, but the session of parliament in which he would have been elected was obstructed after Sadr ordered thousands of his followers to protest outside of the green zone where the government is. And they then, of course, breached its walls and occupied the parliament, which received a lot of media attention in recent weeks. And this naturally provoked Sadr Shia rivals who viewed this as totally outrageous. He tried and failed to form a government. And then he stupidly ordered his members of parliament to resign. And then when his political rivals were set to establish a government, he physically blocked parliament and threatened to essentially start a civil war. That's how they see it. But in Iraq, it's a taboo for Shias to shed each other's blood. And so Muktada Sadr had hoped to turn it into like a popular uprising, right? And attract the support of outside parties and movements and activists and tribes. But then he failed at doing that. And then, you know, even his own supporters didn't really seem to understand why they were occupying parliament. Now, for months, members of the resistance factions have been predicting that interim prime minister and America's darling, Mustafa Kadami, would find a way to extend his premiership thanks to some expected provocation by Muktada Sadr. And now, while this would be unconstitutional, it does turn out to not have been so crazy. So to have predicted that, Sadr supporters could not have breached parliament peacefully without a kind of like red carpet that Kadami practically laid out for them. It was clear that Kadami collaborated with Sadr to allow the rioters to seize parliament. And Sadr made it clear that he was against the political process and the frame accused him of wanting to do a coup. So Sadr threatened to have his protesters surround the Iraqi judiciary, which was basically like a bridge too far for the frame. So the frame ordered a counter protest and threatened to surround Kadami's house and expel him from Iraq. If he didn't make it clear that he was just an interim prime minister only and not part of a coup attempt. Now Kadami managed to get the Sadrists out of parliament and the frame protests avoided a direct clash with the Sadrists and they didn't enter parliament. And then the PMF, the popular mobilization forces helped secure parliament. So luckily there wasn't an eruption of any kind of civil war. And then Kadami called for dialogue to like resolve the crisis. But Sadr so far has rejected this and seems to change his mind really every day about what he wants. It's hard to keep up. Sadr was demanding early elections, which he really has no right to do since he chose to resign. But the frame had also called for new elections anyway last year when they were outraged about what they were saying was election fraud, which cost them the largest block in parliament. So as a result, the frame actually agreed. But early elections in Iraq still require a new government to preside over them. And so Muktada Sadr, he opposes this as well. And he fears rightly I think that this new government would mean his men throughout the system, like in ministries and institutions, including the head of the prime minister's office, would all be removed. And therefore he would lose his control over much of the government and his access to resources. It's important to remember that Iraqi parties, Iraqi political parties view the government as this kind of like cash cow that they can milk or, you know, bleed for their own profit. Iraq is an incredibly corrupt country and that's essentially how it functions. And also there's this element of Iranians and Lebanese Hezbollah officials having intervened to help deescalate the situation and find common ground between the rival Shia parties because they of course fear a collapse of the order in Iraq, which is really in nobody's interest. And the consensus based nature of Iraqi politics means that there will eventually be a government established. But in the meantime, none of the parties is really in a rush. Prime Minister Khadimi is content to stay in power so he can, you know, steal as everybody who has a position in the government does. And the parties are content to have a weak Prime Minister like him so that they can steal and have their way. And then of course, you know, at the end of the day, the poor masses in Iraq have very little to say over their fate. And one thing Iraqis though did notice was the silence of the American establishment over the occupation of parliament by rioters intent on, you know, obstructing the political process or even overthrowing the system and how this differs from the hysteria in America over January 6. That's been a conversation in Iraq and of course has led to some conspiracies about where the Americans behind the riot, the Americans, you know, there's a belief that maybe the Americans and the Saudis are really behind everything Muktada Sutter does. So that's always an element whenever this happens. But for now, we'll just have to wait and see. But it does seem likely that in the meantime, there will be a process to somewhat resolve this and move towards early elections.