Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr calls for closure of US embassy in Iraq

Iraq's Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government and parliament on Friday to vote to close the US embassy in Iraq for its "unfettered support of Israel."

"If the government and parliament do not abide by this demand, we will go for further actions which we will later announce," the statement said.

Hundreds of supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups gathered last week at Iraq's main border crossing with Jordan to express solidarity with Gaza and call for an end to Israel's blockade.

March on the border

Some 800 supporters of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mainly Shi'ite militia, departed from Baghdad last week in buses for the Iraqi-Jordanian border crossing in western Anbar province.

It is the closest access point from Iraq to the West Bank.