London, Asharq Al-Awsat-
Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi deputy prime minister and leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) party, has won the conditional support of the Iranian leadership for his decision to contest the elections independently of the "Unified Iraqi Coalition." Senior officials in Tehran have also expressed their support for Chalabi as the prime minister after the Iraqi elections to be held in mid-December if he wins enough seats in parliament that qualifies him to compete with the other likely leading candidates former Prime Minister Dr. Iyad Allawi, incumbent Prime Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jafari, and Adel Abdul Mahdi, the prominent leader in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) and vice president.
A high-level source in the office of Iranian Guide Ali Khomeini has disclosed to "Asharq al-Awsat" that the supreme leadership in Tehran is deeply worried these days by the rise in Dr. Allawi's political fortunes after his success in forming an expanded list that includes important parties and national figures and in the wake of signals from Shiite religious leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani indicating his dismay and frustration with the failed performance of Dr. Al-Jafari's Government on one hand and on the other the failure of the deputies from SCIRI, Al-Dawah Party, and other Shiite parties to fulfill the promises they had made and the splits in the Unified Iraqi Coalition. The source pointed out that Ayatollah Al-Sistani has not only stopped opposing Allawi's return as head of the government but there are also indications that the supreme Shiite cleric views Allawi as the only Shiite politician capable of putting an end to the interference of the Iranian intelligence services and Revolutionary Guards (IRG) in Iraq's internal affairs........
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