Analysis-Iraqi cleric Sadr flexes muscle with torching of Swedish embassy

FILE PHOTO: Iraqi Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in Najaf, Iraq December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani/File Photo

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Less than a year after declaring he had left Iraqi politics, the unpredictable Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has reminded his rivals of the influence he still wields after his supporters stormed and torched the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

Prompted by one man's plan to burn a Koran, the incident has dragged Baghdad into a diplomatic crisis and disrupted the relative calm enjoyed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani since he took office with the backing of Sadr's Shi'ite rivals.