Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s most influential Shiite figure gave tacit endorsement to the U.N.-appointed government Thursday, breaking nearly three months of silence over the country’s political future. But the supreme religious leader in neighboring Iran dubbed the body a “lackey” of America.

The opposing statements coincided with an eighth straight day of fighting in the holy Shiite city of Kufa between U.S. soldiers and militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. At least six Iraqis were killed and 11 injured, hospital and militia officials said. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded.

In a religious edict, or fatwa, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani expressed hope for the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, himself a Shiite. But al-Sistani said the leadership must secure full sovereignty for Iraq, restore security, prepare for elections by Jan. 31 and ease the hardships facing Iraqis.

“It cannot win popular support unless it proves that it is sincerely trying to achieve those goals,” al-Sistani said of the new Iraqi leadership.

Al-Sistani criticized the makeup of the Cabinet, saying it excluded large segments of society and political forces. However, his support was critical to public acceptance of the U.N.-appointed government because of al-Sistani’s influence over Iraqi Shiites, believed to comprise about 60 percent of the country’s 25 million people.

Al-Sistani’s objections to U.S. policies in Iraq have derailed at least two U.S. political blueprints for the country’s political future and bolstered the Iranian-born cleric’s image as the defender of the Shiite community.

In Iran, which has an overwhelming Shiite majority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Allawi’s government as America’s “lackey” and said the United States had failed in bringing reforms to Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

“Humiliating Iraqi youth, torturing Iraqi men, raping Iraqi women, breaking down the doors of Iraqi homes, and installing a lackey government is the result of … removing spirituality from politics,” Khamenei said in Tehran before tens of thousands who chanted “Death to America.”

Nearly half of Allawi’s 32 Cabinet ministers, announced Tuesday by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, are Shiite Muslims. The new leadership takes power from the U.S.-led coalition on June 30 and will remain in office until general elections by Jan. 31.

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, left, and newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister of National Security Barham Saleh laugh during a news conference after the first meeting of the Iraqi Ministerial Committee for National Security Thursday in Baghdad, Iraq.