NAJAF, May 1: Hardline Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Thursday refused talks with Iraqi lawmakers visiting neighbouring Iran in a bid to end clashes between his fighters and troops, an aide said.

“Moqtada al-Sadr did not permit his leaders to meet the Iraqi delegation,” said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the cleric’s spokesman in the central holy city of Najaf.

“Sadr insists that the crisis can be solved only through a parliamentary initiative backed by President Jalal Talabani and speaker Mahmud Mashhadani.” Obeidi did not elaborate, but Talabani has been holding talks with Sadrists to resolve the crisis.

Earlier, Obeidi said that Iraqi MPs travelled to Iran for talks with Sadr, in the first acknowledgement that the cleric was in Iran. It was unclear however if Sadr was in Tehran or the holy Iranian city of Qom.

The commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, gave his backing to Baghdad’s efforts to broker a deal with the radical cleric and renewed US concern over Iran’s role in Iraq.

Speaking on Thursday after an hour-long meeting with British Premier Gordon Brown in London, Petraeus said there was widespread concern about Iranian backing for attacks against the coalition in Iraq, despite Iran’s denials.The Iraqi government “has very rightly” sent a delegation to try to end clashes between coalition troops and fighters loyal to Sadr, he said.

“The important focus has to be on the way ahead and Iran truly wanting its neighbour to the west... a fellow Shia-led government, to succeed, so there can be a constructive relationship,” Petraeus said.

“I think it’s very important to recognise that the Sadr trend, as a political movement, has every reason to be engaged in the political spectrum, in the political arena, in Iraq.

“It represents an important constituency in the citizenry of Iraq.” Militiamen, mainly from Sadr’s Mahdi Army, have fought fierce street battles with US and Iraqi forces since late March in Baghdad’s Sadr City.

The firefights fuelled the overall bloodshed in April, with at least 1,073 people killed across the country at a time when the US military’s toll also hit a seven-month high.—AFP