Nouri al-Maliki and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
Iran has for the first time publicly backed Nouri al-Maliki to lead Iraq for a second term, hours after Maliki arrived in Tehran today for a rare meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Maliki is due to travel to Qom later to meet his former foe turned ally Moqtada al-Sadr, who has aligned his powerful political bloc with Maliki's coalition.
The Guardian revealed yesterday that Iran had brokered a deal between Sadr and Maliki and had recently used its sway with Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon in an attempt to shut out US input into a new government.
The revelations of increased Iranian involvement in Iraq at a time when the departing US military is scaling back its influence have caused ripples inside Iraq, where Maliki's visit is being cast by the Iraqi media as a job application.
Iran's deputy foreign minister, Rauf Sheibani, said Maliki was "one of the suitable choices" to lead the next government. His words were interpreted as a clear endorsement in Iraq, which is accustomed to high-stakes negotiations taking place behind closed doors.
Agencies also reported Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging Iraq to resolve the political impasse that has afflicted the country since inconclusive elections in March.
"Formation of a government as soon as possible and establishment of full security are among the important needs of Iraq because development and reconstruction of Iraq ... can't be achieved without these two," Khamenei was quoted by state TV as telling Maliki.
A brief survey by the Guardian of people in Baghdad, all aligned to different sects and political blocs, revealed a broad acceptance of Iranian involvement in Iraqi society.
Mushan al-Sa'adi, 50, a party member of the Iraqiya list, which is the key rival to Maliki's state-of-law bloc, said it was right for US forces to continue their withdrawal and for Iraq to form new relationships with its neighbours.
"Iran is not our enemy," he said. "They are our neighbour and we need to deal with them. It doesn't mean they need to interfere though."
Omeran Azad, 35, a backer of the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, and his Kurdish support base, said accepting Iran was a matter of "realism".
"We should accept that all regional powers have a role here. Iran is more active than others, but the US is not weak and I think they will stay till 2020. Their embassy here is the largest in the world and they will build their relationship with Iraq through investment and economics," he said.
Some expect a continued interventionist role from the US. Unadim Kanna, one of five Christian members of Iraq's parliament, said both the US and Iran needed to act as guarantors for Iraq's future.
"Iran sheltered the opposition to Saddam for a long time and those opposition members have now become Iraq's leaders," he said. "Iran is still supporting them and that is natural."
Abdul Hadi al-Husani, a member of Maliki's Dawa party, said: "The new Iraq is passing through a transition. Many countries are playing a role here, according to their own interests. We need to stop both Iran and the US from interfering."
Sami Ali, a hospital guard and Sadrist, said: "Of course Iran is interfering now. They are trying hard to accelerate the forming of the new government. Iran works to secure safety in the region and they want a government here that guarantees their interests. Maliki together with the Sadrists is a very good alliance. We will not accept the Americans staying here. We want to turn a page on the occupation."
Mahmoud Shater, a member of the rival Shia Islamic bloc to Maliki, known as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, said: "Iran has a stronger role than America here. [The Shia coalition] has no one else to support them apart from Iran. The Saudis or the Turks will not support them, so what will they do? The Shia in Iraq were oppressed for 35 years and it is now the time for them to take their rights."
Jia Zuneri, a Kurd, said: "Iran makes all the decisions here. Everything comes from their central committee. We need the Americans to stay. Even the chief of the Iraqi army says that. The security situation has not stabilised."
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