As long as Shi'ites play dominant role in Iraqi politics, one should expect the nascent Iran-Iraq alliance to survive.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government has taken steps to tie the two countries closer together.

The most striking is the agreement to construct an export oil pipeline from Basra to the Iranian port of Abadan, a measure that will give Iran a significant control over southern Iraq's most important strategic resource.

The major reason for Iran's rising influence in Iraq is, of course, the political triumph of the Shi'ite religious parties it sponsored for decades.

With a Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government and security forces, it is tempting to think that Iran's influence in Iraq is higher then it has ever been, and that Iranian-backed elements will continue to dominate Iraqi politics