Maliki Continues to Defy International Pressure to Step Aside, Sistani Urges Him to Leave

Iraq's caretaker premier Nuri al-Maliki said Wednesday it will take a court ruling for him to leave power, defying the president's decision to task a rival with forming a government.

"I confirm that the government will continue and there will not be a replacement for it without a decision from the federal court," Maliki said in his televised weekly address.

The two-term premier has accused President Fuad Masum of violating the constitution by approving the nomination of Haidar al-Abadi, a member of his Dawa party, to form a government, and vowed he would sue.

But the prospects of Maliki -- who told Agence France Presse in 2011 that he would not seek a third term -- succeeding in his quest to cling to office appear dim.

Whatever ruling the court might deliver, analysts say Maliki has lost too much support to stay in power.

And Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called for controversial al-Maliki to be replaced with a more conciliatory figure, according to a letter released on Wednesday.

"I see the need to speed up the selection of a new prime minister," Sistani said in the handwritten letter addressed to leaders of Maliki's Dawa party, which was released by his office more than a month after it was written.

The new premier should be someone who "has broad national acceptance and is able to work together with the political leaders of the other (ethnic and religious) components to save the country from the dangers of terrorism, sectarian war and division," he said.

The call by Sistani, who is revered by millions, will carry enormous weight with the country's Shiite Arab majority.

But even before the release of Sistani's letter, analysts said Maliki had lost too much backing to stay in power.

International support has poured in for Abadi, including from both Washington and Tehran, the two main foreign power-brokers in Iraq.

The White House on Wednesday urged al-Maliki to step aside and allow the man nominated to become his successor as prime minister to form a government.

"He needs to respect that process," U.S. national security spokesman Ben Rhodes told reporters. "This is what the Iraqis themselves have decided to do."

"The White House will be very glad to see a new government in place with prime minister Abadi at the lead of that government," Rhodes said.

"We believe it's necessary, frankly, to bring the country together," he said, blaming sectarian divisions for a loss of confidence in the government and advances by Islamic militants.

"We will be providing, training and equipping security assistance and advice to Iraqi and Kurdish forces. And then we can begin to squeeze the space where ISIL's operating," he said.

The political transition comes at a time of crisis for Iraq.

After seizing the main northern city of Mosul in early June and sweeping through much of the Sunni heartland, jihadist militants bristling with U.S.-made military equipment they captured from retreating Iraqi troops launched another onslaught this month.

They attacked Christian, Yazidi, Turkmen and Shabak minorities west, north and east of Mosul, sparking a mass exodus that sent the number of people displaced in Iraq this year soaring.

A week of devastating gains saw the IS jihadists take the country's largest dam and advance to within striking distance of the autonomous Kurdish region.

U.S. strikes and cross-border Kurdish cooperation have since yielded early results on several fronts, with Kurdish troops beginning to claw back lost ground.