Iraqi top Shiite clerics are silent on Iran: Via Huffington Post.

NAJAF, Iraq — There is no place outside Iran that has closer links to Tehran's ruling establishment than Iraq's holy Shiite city of Najaf, where the silence during Iran's post-election crisis says much about the deep complexities of their cross-border bonds.

"Simply put, the whole affair does not concern Najaf," said Sheik Ali al-Najafi, son of and spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Bashir al-Najafi, one of the city's four top Shiite clerics. "We will not interfere in the internal affairs of a dear, next door neighbor."

The four _ who include Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani _ have remained quiet on the upheavals in Iran since the disputed presidential election June 12. The reasons have to do with both religion and politics.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, lived here in exile for 16 years. Najaf also is the world's oldest and foremost seat of Shiite learning, and the Imam Ali shrine attracts hundreds of thousands of Iranian visitors every year.
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