Iraq regroups under Abadi

Clovis Maksoud

Aug 15, 2014

Salim al-Jabouri (R), new speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and Shi'ite deputy speaker Haider Abadi (L), a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc, speak during a news conference in Baghdad, July 15, 2014. Iraqi politicians named Jabouri, a moderate Sunni Islamist, as speaker of parliament on Tuesday, a long-delayed first step towards a power-sharing government urgently needed to save the state from disintegration in the face of a Sunni uprising. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad ( — Salim al-Jabouri (R) Haider al-Abadi (L), a member of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc, speak during a news conference in Baghdad, July 15, 2014. — REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to step aside as prime minister of Iraq in response to the growing pressure within his Dawa Party, as well as the opposition of the Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and the growing diplomatic pressure from the United States and a significant number of Arab and other states.

What probably made him reverse his insistence on remaining in the post was the immediate Iranian and US recognition of his replacement, Haider al-Abadi.