World
March 8, 2021
TEHRAN: The Iraq meeting of Pope Francis and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, one of Islam’s top clerics, was front-page news in Iran on Sunday, with some media declaring it a chance for peace in the neighbouring country.
Officials in Iran, like Iraq, have not yet commented on the pontiff’s historic visit to Iraq that began on Friday. Tehran, with its allies within Baghdad’s state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, helped Iraqi troops defeat the Jihadist Islamic State (IS) group at the end of 2017.
Iran’s reformist Sazandegi daily said the two religious leaders are now "the standard-bearers of world peace" and called their meetings "the most effective event (in the history of) dialogue between religions".