In a message addressed Sunday to the Iraqi people, Mr. Khameneh'i urged them to "honour brotherhood, be kind to each other, enforce law and order and avoid lawlessness which is forbidden by the religion".

The message came as the Coalition forces started to enforce law and order in Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities, scenes of three days of total anarchy, random looting, revenge-taking, arson and disorder.

Mr. Khameneh’i also called on the Iraqi to "heed advice of the religious leaders and those sympathetic with you" to help restore law and order as in the holy city of Najaf, rival Shi’ite groups fought each other for supremacy over the Iraqi Shi’ites who form the majority in Iraq.

According to news from the city, some young mullahs, reported to be close to the Tehran-based, Iran-backed Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI) warned moderate Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraqi Shi’ites highest religious authority, to leave the city or he would be assassinated.

Unidentified zealots assassinated Hojjatoleslam Abdolmajid Kho’i, a pro-Western young cleric who had returned recently to Najaf from London, last week in the holly shrine of Emam Ali.

In his message, Ayatollah Khameneh’i made no reference to the events in Najaf.

Iranian analysts said the message of Ayatollah Khameneh'i was another efforts by the ruling Iranian clerics to soothe the Bush Administration, coming after the fall of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hoseyn and Defence and State secretaries, Donald Rumsfeld and Collin Powell as well as some hard-line policy-makers renewing accusations against the Islamic Republic.

"The ruling authorities in Tehran hope that the leader’s message would be welcomed by the Americans, thinking they would consider it as an important factor complementing the Coalition’s struggle to restore normality in Iraq", the sources pointed out.

"The mosques are the best place where you can organise your national recovery and stop anarchy and chaos, help heal the wounds by fostering national solidarity and establish law and order", the lamed Iranian leader said, urging the Iraqis to "help one another and not to give way for further bloodshed".

But analysts said it was not clear on which capacity Mr. Khameneh'i has addressed the Iraqi people, as in the original Farsi-language text of the message, he is referred both as the "Responsible in charge of the Muslims affairs" and the leader of the Islamic revolution.

Iran and neighbouring Iraq are the two major centres of the world’s 200 million Shi’a Muslims, but all most sacred sanctuaries of the faith are in Iraq, namely in Najaf, where is buried Emam Ali, the first emam of the Shi’ites and Karbala, where the shrine of Emam Hoseyn, Ali’s second son, is situated.