Iranians in Iraq to Help in Talks on Rebel Cleric

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/international/middleeast/15IRAQ.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

April 15, 2004

Iranians in Iraq to Help in Talks on Rebel Cleric
By JOHN F. BURNS

AGHDAD, Iraq, April 14 — An Iranian government delegation arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday to help mediate the standoff between American troops and a rebel Shiite cleric holed up in Najaf with hundreds of his militiamen, offering American officials an improbable ally in their quest to put Iraq on a peaceful path to self-government.

As political momentum built against the cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, the hostage-taking crisis that erupted as he began his insurrection 11 days ago took a savage turn with the announcement by Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, that one of four Italian security guards seized in an ambush near Falluja earlier in the week had been killed.

Mr. Frattini said the killing had been confirmed by Italy's ambassador in Qatar, headquarters for Al Jazeera television network, after the diplomat had been shown a videotape of the killing, which the satellite channel said it would not broadcast because it was "too bloody."

Most of southern Iraq has quieted, but fighting has continued to flare in the Sunni city of Falluja, west of Baghdad, where American marines on Wednesday entered the sixth day of a cease-fire that has been repeatedly broken by heavy exchanges of rocket, mortar and small-arms fire, as well as by strikes from American combat jets and attack helicopters.

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I'm confused. I read yesterday the headline "Abizaid accused Iran, Syria of 'unhelpful actions' in Iraq"... but I didn't save the link, drat. I thought this was leading up to more pre-emption because of the oil pipeline. Changes like the weather.