Quds Force Behind the Ceasefire

The Iranian Quds Force (labeled a terrorist organization by the US) was behind the Muqtada al-Sadr ceasefire which halted much of the violence in Basra, Baghdad, and much of southern Iraq. The Iranian foreign minister also called for an end to the bloodshed on March 29th when things were chaotic. The Tank has a writeup questioning what the ruling Iraqis ceded to Iran in doing this, and I'm certainly rattling my brain trying to figure it out as well. Iranian influence is responsible for the Hezbollah-style training of proxy militias in Iraq and it is also behind the most lethal roadside bombs, EFPs. However, Iran probably doesn't want to see inra-Shi'ite violence in Basrah, since it will cut off a large portion of their revenue stream. In fact, Iran benefits from good relations with Iraq, since the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Najaf are very holy to Shi'ite Muslims. The foreign policy wonks back stateside need to figure out a way to get Iran to stop it's malign influence, but still allow it to do productive things for Iraq. That's going to take some pretty crafty diplomacy, and I might as well be hoping for a miracle at this point. We shall see, does anyone want a war with Iran? I hope not at this point. War would be a failure of diplomacy, and I'm hoping someone can pull out all the stops. Maybe I'd have better chances of hoping for a UFO to beam me up and take me away from this colossal mess.

There's no Iranian influence in Iraq? Yeah, keep drinking the kool-aid, buddy