Hassan Rouhani’s state visit to Iraq was a success for the Iranian president. In terms of political and economic cooperation, multiple memorandums of understanding were signed to facilitate commerce, investment, logistical connections as well as travel between the two neighbors. Additionally, an important joint declaration has spelled out mutual commitment to implementing the 1975 Algiers Agreement and related annexes, which deal with sensitive — and festering — issues such as border demarcation.

These are major strides for Rouhani. However, the crowning achievement was his unprecedented March 13 audience with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf — the first time that a sitting Iranian president has met with the top cleric. Sistani “welcomed any step to strengthen relations between Iraq and its neighbors as per mutual interests and on the basis of respecting the sovereignty of states and non-intervention in internal affairs." He also "expressed the necessity for balanced and moderate regional and international policies in this region to avoid further tragedies and damage." To understand the significance of this meeting, it is necessary to consider Sistani’s influence in Iran.

Last year, there were reportedly 110,000 seminary students in Iran, mainly concentrated in the holy city of Qom. According to Sistani’s office, 49,000 students at 300 seminaries in Iran received stipends from the grand ayatollah in 2013: 35,000 of them in Qom, 10,000 in Mashhad and 4,000 in Isfahan. Of note, many seminary students receive stipends from multiple clerical authorities. Moreover, there are students in Iran who receive no stipends at all. As such, it can be reasonably assumed that a significant proportion of Iranian seminary students receive direct funding from Sistani, who although long based in Iraq is an Iranian national. These networks have the capacity to be of major influence in Iran, where the prevailing Guardianship of the Jurist system — despite only demanding political and not religious allegiance from the public — relies on religious legitimacy.

Shiite Muslims tend to follow religious authorities for guidance on how to lead their lives in accordance with the faith. These senior jurists are referred to as maraji al-taqlid ("sources of emulation"). To fund charity and scholarship, they collect khums — a 20% wealth tax — as well as donations from believers. While there are no official statistics on how many followers each marja has, one groundbreaking study sheds some light on this topic.