It was reported on Sunday that Iranian officials had helped broker a ceasefire agreement in the recent fighting between Iraq's government and radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Iran has close ties to both al-Sadr's movement and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and representatives of two of the parties in Maliki's coalition traveled to Iran to finalize the talks.

"There's a broad alliance of Shia parties here in Iraq that have been sort of struggling and struggling to hold themselves together over the recent months," Robertson stated. "That alliance essentially broke down with this recent fighting, and it appears that Iran has wanted the Shias to remain united here, that they don't want massive violence right on their own doorstep."