The son of one Iraq's most senior statesmen on Saturday called for more dialogue between the United States and Iran as Shiites took their turn celebrating the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Iraq's Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has long played a delicate balancing act in the bitter rivalry between Washington and Tehran, putting off Iranian calls for a U.S. troop pullout while balking at U.S. pressure to take a

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Iraqi Shiite Leader Seeks US-Iran Talks 107

tougher line against Tehran.

The senior al-Hakim attended the prayer service in southeastern Baghdad and was greeted by well-wishers afterward, three days after returning home from his last round of chemotherapy in Iran. He was diagnosed last May with lung cancer following tests in a Texas hospital, but chose to be treated in Iran to be near his family.

Ammar al-Hakim appealed for unity among all Iraqis and a faster build up of the national security forces