The Jordanian Al-Ghad daily wrote: Sheikh Ismail Waeli, a Fadhilat Party leader warned that Iran seeks to fragment Iraq through the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) headed by Aziz Hakim and creating a federal government in southern part of Iraq.

The Al-Ghad daily added: Sheikh Waeli, who is a relative of Ayatollah Muhammad Yaaqubi, a senior clergy opposing the Iranian regime in Iraq, added: “The plan supported by the Iranian regime is a sectarian plan that would weaken Iraq and plunder its wealth; but Basra province will still remain as a historical region of unity and power for Arabs to counter the Iranian regime’s meddling.”

He said: “Ayatollah Muhammad Yaaqubi has urged the people of Basra province and other provinces to keep unity, Arabism, and Islamic identity of Iraq and rise against the Iranian regime’s meddling and domination”.