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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/16/AR2005071601165.html
Iran, Iraq Herald "New Chapter" in Shiite-Led Alliance
(Washington Post) Andy Mosher and Robin Wright - Iraqi Prime Minister Jafari arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a visit signaling a new alliance that could change the religious and political balance of power in the region. Jafari, a Shiite Muslim, spent almost a decade of exile in Iran while Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq. U.S. officials and regional analysts believe Iran shared the immediate U.S. goal of stabilizing Iraq and preserving its territorial integrity. However, experts say differences between the two countries suggest that an Iranian-style theocracy might not be suited to Iraq. Iran is populated predominantly by Persians, an Indo-European ethnic group, while Iraq is predominantly Arab. Iraq's most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, an Iranian-born Shiite, has rejected the active political role for clerics integral to the system Khomeini built in Iran.