For the first time in 11 years, Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, visited Saudi Arabia at the official invitation of the kingdom. On July 30, Sadr met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The visit is part of Sadr's efforts to keep a balance in his relations with neighboring countries in a bid to ease sectarian tensions in Iraq and strengthen his position as an Iraqi leader.

Saudi-Iraqi relations have recently witnessed a breakthrough following a period of lukewarm relations that started in the early 1990s. Senior officials of the two governments have recently exchanged visits and talked about developing relations between the two countries in various fields. But the significance of Sadr's recent visit lies in the fact that he is a religious and political leader from a prominent Hawza-affiliated family. What makes the visit even more paramount is the shift in Sadr's approach to the domestic events and regional orientations of the kingdom.

Previously, Sadr held positions that were hostile to Saudi Arabia’s domestic events and dealing with Shiites in the kingdom. For example, in January 2016, he issued a strongly worded response to the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia and accused the Saudi rulers of practicing “systematic injustice against minorities and the oppressed.” At the time, Sadr called on Shiites in Gulf states to “have the courage to respond, even if through mere peaceful demonstrations.”

However, Sadr's positions on these issues differed completely during his last visit, in which he decided to focus primarily on Iraqi issues. Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said in a TV interview Aug. 2, “Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr said before going: 'Unless they raise issues that are not related to Iraq, I will be sticking to Iraqi developments because otherwise this would be an interference in their domestic affairs.'”