Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down and warned that the country’s festering political crisis risks sparking a wider sectarian conflict in the region.

Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq stood by an earlier charge that Iraq is becoming a new dictatorship under al-Maliki, a Shiite. He said Iraqis could eventually rise up violently if al-Maliki remains in his post, and pushed for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister if he remains in office.