Iraq seeks US exemption for Iranian airlines amid flight disruptions
Flights to several destinations continue as Tehran works to reopen suspended routes
Iraq is holding talks with the United States to secure an exemption from a ban on Iranian airlines that has disrupted travel for patients, students and pilgrims, the Iraqi government said on Saturday.
All Iraqi airports enforced the ban this week, causing major disruption at the airport in the holy city of Najaf, the main destination for Iranian flights to Iraq, AFP reported.
“The Iraqi government is holding direct talks with the American side to exempt certain Iraqi airports from these measures,” the prime minister’s media office said.
An exemption would allow flights to resume “for humanitarian reasons, including medical treatment, education, religious visits, and for the interest of civilians,” it added.
Iranian airlines mainly carry Iraqi pilgrims to Iran’s holy cities and Iranians visiting sacred sites in Iraq. The flights also serve Iraqi students studying in Iran and patients seeking medical treatment there.
Several Iraqis told AFP that enforcement of the US sanctions had left them scrambling for alternatives, with some fearing they would lose access to treatment in Iran, while others were stranded there with little choice but to make the more than 12-hour journey home by land.
Iraq has joined several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, in enforcing the US ban after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that Iranian airlines would be “shut down.”
Relations between Iraq and neighboring Iran, both predominantly Shiite countries, have long been close because of religious ties as well as political and economic interests.
Iraqi airlines stopped flying to Iran at the start of the Middle East war in February.
Meanwhile, Ramin Kashef-Azar, head of Imam Khomeini International Airport City Company, said on Saturday that apart from previously canceled flights to destinations including the UAE, Iraq and Georgia, no new flight cancellations by foreign countries had been announced.
He added that there had been no flights to Saudi Arabia even before the latest restrictions were announced.
Flights were currently operating to Turkey, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other destinations, he said, adding that aviation officials were in talks to reopen suspended routes.
The developments came as Washington moved to tighten pressure on Iran’s aviation sector. On Sept. 8, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines as part of a broader campaign announced on Aug. 24, warning that foreign companies supporting Iran’s aviation industry could face sanctions and restrictions on access to the US financial system.