Shia Muslim political and paramilitary groups are escalating a tense political standoff which many Iraqis worry could lead to new conflict in the country. Iraq’s longest post-election political deadlock has given way to demonstrations on both sides of a Shia divide, led by the mercurial cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on one side and a collection of mostly Iran-aligned groups on the other, known together as the Coordination Framework. “I reiterate my sincere appeal to the brothers in the Sadrist movement to come to the logic of reason, wisdom, self-restraint, [and] deliberation to advance the interest …