The United States on Friday urged radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to play "a useful and positive role" in Iraq after his dramatic return to frontline Iraqi politics.
"Now that he's back from four months in Iran, we hope he'll play a useful and positive role in the development of Iraq," said White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Sadr called for national unity and the withdrawal of US troops in his first speech in seven months and the first since US commanders and Iraqi officials said in January that he had fled to Iran.
The young Shiite cleric, the head of one of Iraq's most powerful armed movements, arrived at his mosque in the central town of Kufa to the cheers of more than 1,000 supporters who showered him with sweets.
"I want to renew our demand for the departure of the occupation," he said, warning the Iraqi government that his supporters and allies have enough votes in parliament to block any renewal of the US military mandate.
Sadr had not been seen at his mosque in Kufa since last October, and in January the US military and Iraqi presidency said that he had gone to Iran ahead of a massive security operation aimed at quelling sectarian violence.
His supporters denied this, insisting that Sadr was still in Kufa, a suburb of the pilgrimage city of Najaf 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad.
During his absence, Sadr supporters quit Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government and now claim to have recruited 148 members of Iraq's 275-member parliament to support a law demanding the expulsion of US forces.
Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has also clashed with Iraqi and US security forces, who have carried out raids to round up death squad leaders and arms smugglers connected to the large and loosely organized movement.
Nevertheless, Sadr's core supporters have by and large maintained a ceasefire.
