Iranian minister meets Iraq's top shiite cleric

Iran’s foreign minister and Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric have met in the Iraqi city of Najaf amid worsening sectarian tensions fuelled by a three-week surge of violence that has killed hundreds.

Kamal Kharrazi, the highest-level official from any of Iraq’s six neighbours to visit since Saddam Hussein’s ousting two years ago, met for about 30 minutes with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf – a holy Shiite city, 100 miles south of Baghdad.

No details were available on the meeting’s planned agenda, but both men have called for calm in Iraq amid an increased number of apparent tit-for-tat killings between the country’s Shiite and Sunni populations.

Kharrazi, also a Shiite, did not speak to journalists after the meeting in the heavily guarded home of Iranian-born cleric al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite leader in Iraq.

After the meeting, Kharrazi visited another leading Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim.

Earlier, Kharrazi visited the holy Shiite Shrine of Imam Ali, near al-Sistani’s house.

Al-Sistani, who has been living in Iraq for more than 50 years, is the main power behind the country’s new government. The United Iraqi Alliance, which is backed by al-Sistani has more than 50% of the parliament seats.

Kharrazi who arrived in Iraq on Tuesday met the country’s top officials, including Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani, in the past two days.