Al-Sadr's statement was his first since March 14, when he urged his supporters to resist U.S. forces through peaceful means. Al-Sadr has been said by U.S. and Iraqi officials to be in neighbouring Iran, but his aides insist he is still in Iraq.

Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militiamen fought U.S. troops in 2004 but have generally co-operated with an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security push in Baghdad, blamed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq for the rising violence, lack of services and sectarian bloodshed.