DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran urged all Iraqi factions to unite behind the country's newly nominated Prime Minister on Tuesday, state media said, highlighting Iranian concern over instability in Iraq as it faces a Sunni Islamist insurgency extending close to Baghdad.
Iraq's president named Haider al-Abadi on Monday to end the rule of Nuri al-Maliki, who had been strongly backed by regional Shi'ite power broker Tehran since coming to power in 2006. But Maliki refused to go, after deploying militias and special forces on the streets, creating a dangerous standoff in Baghdad.