A push by the Cairo-based Arab League to gather Iraq's divided factions for a national reconciliation conference gained momentum on Saturday after Iraq's top Shia cleric gave his blessing to the initiative.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose views are influential among Iraq's 60 percent Shia majority, told Amr Moussa, the head of the 22-state Arab League, that he supported the idea of a conference in Cairo next month, Moussa said on Saturday.
"He gave his blessing to the conference," Moussa told reporters in Najaf after meeting Sistani in the holy city. Sistani very rarely speaks publicly and his office did not immediately confirm the content of their discussions.