Muqtada al-Sadr: the 'crisis is over'

Influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has said the "crisis is over" following Donald Trump's statement.

Sadr called on Iraq's militias to be patient and not start any military action, while adding that a new government should be formed in Iraq within 15 to "safeguard" Iraq's sovereignty.

"I call on the Iraqi factions to be deliberate, patient, and not to start military actions, and to shut down the extremist voices of some rogue elements until all political, parliamentary and international methods have been exhausted," he said.

He added that foreign troops still needed to be expelled from Iraq.

Though a longtime critic of Iranian influence in Iraq, Sadr fiercely condemned the airstrike last week on Qassem Suleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and reactivated his Saraya al-Salam militia "to be ready to fully protect Iraq."