(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Ahmed al-Safi, who often speaks for Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, said that the cleric believed that Iraq's leaders are taking the country "into the unknown."

"Politicians must work fast and make concessions to solve the crisis," al-Safi told worshippers during a Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala.

Ayatollah Sistani normally exerts his considerable influence through sermons and statements made by his aides.

Iraq's Shiite-led government has been paralyzed for the past two months by a political crisis that erupted after officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terrorism charges.

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