Najaf, Iraq: In the holy Iraqi Shiite city of Najaf, Iranian tourists throng the streets, speak to shopkeepers in Persian and pay in Iranian money. Chants in Persian blare from speakers at a nearby shrine.
The scene would probably horrify both the United States and Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours, who suspect Iran of nefarious and subversive influence in Arab lands. Even some of Najaf's citizens are wary of Iranian leverage.
But the city, a centre of religious and political power in Shiite-majority Iraq, benefits from Iranian tourism and aid.
The uniforms of rubbish men sport Persian inscriptions, as do their gleaming new Iran-donated rubbish trucks. Iranian builders toil at the site of a new Iranian-sponsored hospital.
Iranian donations pay for the renovation of Shiite holy sites, and Iran has offered cash and expertise to boost electricity capacity in Iraq's Shiite south.
Each year hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims visit Najaf's shrine of Imam Ali, one of the most important figures of Shiite Islam.
Najaf officials, up for re-election in provincial polls expected early next year, play down Iranian influence.
"Do you see Iranian councillors? Iranian police? ... There is no influence at all," Najaf provincial governor Assad Abu Gelal said in a recent interview in the southern city.
But ordinary residents say Iranian influence is there, and they don't necessarily mind.
"There's an Iranian hand in Najaf, but it's a positive hand; they've helped develop the city, the hospital, the tourism," said Hussain Abbas, who works in a Najaf toy shop. The pro-vince's current administrators will get his vote in the provincial elections, he added.
Iraq and Iran were sworn enemies under Saddam Hussain, who launched a ruinous eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s in which one million people died, many Iraqi Shiite conscripts.
But since US troops overthrew Saddam in 2003 and a Shiite led-government came to power in Baghdad, Iran has conspicuously shown off its clout, partly through its ties with Shiite politicians that were based in Iran for years during the rule of Saddam.
Last March, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a triumphant visit, becoming not only first Iranian leader to visit Iraq since the 1980s, but also the first regional leader to visit since the US-led invasion.
Iran has had a full-service embassy in Baghdad for years, while no Sunni Arab state had an ambassador in the Iraqi capital for three years until last month.
Washington, Tehran's arch enemy for 30 years, accuses Iran of supplying Shiite militants in Iraq with arms, training and cash, accusations Tehran denies.
Status in question
Almost all of oil-rich southern Iraq's provincial councils, including Najaf, are dominated by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a Shiite political group formed in exile in Iran during Saddam's reign.
Many Iraqis, including Shiites, say ISCI is still backed by Iran. Yet ISCI is also a key part of Iraq's US-backed government, and strongly denies Iran directs its policies.
"ISCI was in Iran. And from Iran we went to Washington. Iran has no ties to America. It's at political war with it," said Najaf deputy governor and ISCI member Abdul Hussain Abtan. "We allow for good relations with Iran, but built on mutual respect, and not interfering in each other's affairs."
Iraqis bristle at the pros-pect of their politicians taking Tehran's orders.
"We love the tourists, but if [Iran] tries to take part in politics, we'll fight it. And it is clear as the sun that they are," said Karar Kadham.
