easterners — a derogatory term designed to paint them as outcasts. The south was also a reservoir for troops during Hussein’s eight-year war with Iran, which ended in 1988. A legacy of anti-Iranian sentiment persists across the country, despite Iran’s attempts to install clerics and local officials loyal to Tehran. Along with slogans demanding and end of corruption, protesters have been shouting “no to Iranian tutelage” and “Iraq is free. Iran get out”. The demonstrators have been spontaneous, with no political group behind them. Some activists are starting to emerge, although one activist and his wife were reportedly killed in the city of Basra on Thursday when gunmen stormed their house. An independent cleric, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, plugged into the street movement in Baghdad said Iran “is losing Iraq’s Shiites” by de facto backing the crackdown. “Instead of helping build Iraq, the Iranians have supported the most corrupt of Iraqi politicians and used Iraqis as cannon fodder for their militia wars,” the cleric said by phone from Baghdad. “Iran aims to break as many skulls as necessary to maintain control.” Iran’s entrenchment in Iraq in the last decade had served as a springboard to its intervention in Syria, which was carried out significantly through the contribution of Shiite militia from Iraq and the government in Baghdad. Iran wants to ensure the Baghdad government remains friendly to maintain its so called “resistance axis”, comprising of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and to counter US pressure. Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran after pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal last year. In treating Iraq as a geopolitical tool, however, Iran has undermined the political order in which it had greatly invested.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The National","url":"https://www.thenationalnews.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.thenationalnews.com/pf/resources/images/logo_rectangle.png?d=279"}},"articleSection":"World","keywords":["Mosul","Iraq’s Shiite militia","Adel Abdel Mehdi","geopolitical tool","Lebanon","Middle East and North Africa","armed opposition","Saudi Arabia","central Iraq","Washington","Baghdad","Abdel Mahdi","main militia tool","World","GCC","Iran","Saddam Hussein","Tehran","Najaf","Shiite militia","United States","United Kingdom","Middle East","Mohammad Baqer Hakim","Gulf","Iran’s Council of Experts","Iraq","oil production","Syria","Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution In Iraq","Basra","Abbas Al Kabi","southern Iraq","Article"],"description":"Politicians, clerics and militias beholden to Iran can no longer manipulate the Shiite underclass","thumbnailUrl":"https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/g_CC4760EJZmkAWCfK7aY0pf_kk=/400x267/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/thenational/BOF6IVGSVYUENIUZYZ2TZ6JTWU.jpg","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/iraq-protests-societal-fissures-are-at-the-heart-of-the-upheaval-1.919961"}}