Title: Muqtada al-Sadr Calls for Closure of U.S. Embassy in Iraq

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged the Iraqi government and parliament on Friday to vote on closing the U.S. embassy in the country due to the "unlimited U.S. support for the terrorist Zionists against Gaza." The statement added, "If the government and parliament do not respond, we will announce another position later." Hundreds of supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions gathered last week at the main border crossing between Iraq and Jordan to express their solidarity with Gaza and call for an end to the Israeli blockade. About 800 supporters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a group that includes mostly Shiite factions, left Baghdad last week on buses heading to the border crossing with Jordan in the Al-Anbar province in western Iraq. The Jordanian border represents the closest point from Iraq to the West Bank.