Iran may eventually get its way in protracted power struggle in Iraq

Analysis: Kurdish officials are considering allying with Iranian interests to finally form a government in Baghdad

A parliament besieged by protesters, a country adrift nine months after an election, a feud between domestic blocs and Iranian proxies: for many Iraqis, the latest political crisis is nothing new.

But to many observers this standoff appears more complex and protracted than most over more than two decades of efforts to root a democratic state in Iraq. From the Kurdish region in the north, through Anbar province in western Iraq and to the Shia communities in the south, there appears little hope that a government pursuing a collective national interest can emerge from the power struggle.