Iran cleric calls on Iraqis to end their fighting

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A hardline Iranian cleric called on Friday for the Iraqi government and a Muslim Shi'ite militia to stop fighting and strike a deal.

Ayatollah Ahmad Janati made his appeal in a sermon broadcast on state radio on the fourth day of a crackdown launched by U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, himself a Shi'ite, against a Shi'ite militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The fighting has exposed a deep rift within Iraq's majority Shi'ites and put pressure on Maliki, whose forces have failed to dislodge fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr from Basra.

"To the armed popular forces who have come to Basra and pulled a gun on this or that person, I say, oh brother, if you have something to say come sit with the government, the government is popular and so are you," Janati said.

Janati, head of the powerful Guardian Council constitutional watchdog, did not mention Sadr or his Mehdi Army by name.

"To the esteemed and dear Nuri al-Maliki, who is running the affairs of the people with wisdom and power, I recommend you listen to the voices of the popular forces and somehow compromise with one another," said Janati, whose country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite.

The Iraqi government says it is fighting "outlaws", but Sadr's followers say political parties in Maliki's Shi'ite-led government are using military force to marginalize their rivals ahead of local elections due by October.

Janati accused U.S. troops of wreaking havoc after they invaded Iraq just over five years ago to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Iran has called on U.S. troops to withdraw.

"The questions are: what have the consequences been of the five-year presence of the Americans in Iraq? What are the results for the Americans? What are the results for the (Iraqi) people? Nothing but adversity and destruction," Janati said.