Sadr in Iran, some say

"Two Shiite leaders stepped forward on Thursday to confirm American reports this week that Mr. Sadr had gone to Iran.
But the two, a senior official in Mr. Sadr’s organization who spoke on condition of anonymity, and Sami al-Askari, a Parliament member from a different Shiite party, took exception with suggestions that he had fled because of a crackdown on militias and had permanently moved to Iran. They said that the cleric often visited the country and that it was unclear why he had left or when he would come back; the Sadr official said he could return to Iraq on Friday.
In a sign of how volatile the topic has become, several of the cleric’s aides continued their vehement denials that he had left at all, and accused the Americans of a propaganda campaign to paint him as a coward.
. . . If he actually did leave, it is now unclear whether he could come back: the Iraqi government said Thursday that it had closed its borders with Syria and Iran as part of the new security plan."

source
Cave, Damien. (The New York Times). Dispute Over Iraqi Cleric, Said to Have Gone to Iran. February 16, 2007.

posted: saturday, february 17, 2007, 1:31 AM ET

tags: iraq sadr