Iraqi bloc loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Monday for the dissolution of parliament and early elections.

The bloc loyal to the Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on Monday for the dissolution of parliament and early elections, the latest step in a political standoff that has stoked sectarian tensions.

The movement's parliamentary chief Baha al-Araji said in a statement that his bloc in Iraq's Council of Representatives wanted to "dissolve parliament and repeat elections."

An official at the movement's headquarters in the southern holy city of Najaf said Araji's remark "represents the entire bloc, and it represents the opinion of the bloc."

The call for early elections, after the last vote in March 2010, comes amid a political standoff that has seen Iraqi authorities issue an arrest warrant for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he ran a death squad, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki call for his deputy to be fired for committing terrorist crimes.

Hashemi's Iraqiya bloc has boycotted parliament and cabinet, where Maliki warns of replacing it.