Iraq seeks US exemption from ban on Iranian flights

Ali al-Zaidi’s government urges dialogue to de-escalate regional tensions amid US sanctions on Iranian airlines.

An Iranian passenger carrying luggage leaves Iraq's Najaf international airport [File: Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters]

Iraq is in direct talks with Washington as it seeks to exempt some of its airports from United States measures targeting Iranian airline flights in the region.

Four Iraqi airports suspended all flights to and from Iran on Friday, days after Washington announced new aviation sanctions on any global company doing business with Iranian airlines.

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The Iraqi prime minister’s office said on Saturday that US exemptions for Baghdad would allow flights to resume “on humanitarian grounds related to medical treatment, education, religious visits, and the interests of civilians”.

The statement by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s media office added that Baghdad was working to de-escalate regional tensions, warning that “the continuation of crises further complicates the situation”.

It called on all parties to pursue dialogue and negotiations to end the current crisis and conflicts in the interests of the region’s countries and peoples.

With Iran flights halted at airports in Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, passengers have now been forced onto land journeys of at least 12 hours.

Neighbours Iraq and Iran are both Shia-majority countries, and flights to and from Najaf in particular carry Iraqi Shia Muslim pilgrims to Iran’s holy cities or Iranians visiting sacred sites in Iraq.

Iraq ‘squeezed between’ US and Iran

On Saturday, a large number of demonstrators gathered on the streets of Baghdad in opposition to the flight suspensions, in a protest organised by Iran-allied Iraqi militias.

Dozens of scholars and students from the Hawza of Najaf, the oldest and most influential Shia seminary in the world, held a vigil on Saturday evening against the suspension of Iranian flights to Iraq, Shafaq News reported.

Reading out a statement, the seminary’s Scholarly Assembly condemned the halt of flights, saying it came when “the peoples of the region are most in need of strengthening the bonds of brotherhood”, and urged the government to “maintain the independence and sovereignty of Iraqi decision-making”.

Iraq’s ambassador to Tehran, Yasser al-Hajjaj, said that the suspension of flights between the two countries would be temporary and not affect relations. Speaking to Iraq’s state news agency, he said Baghdad was in contact with Iranian authorities to restore normal air traffic as soon as possible.

Iraqi-Iranian ties are “too deep to be affected by a temporary crisis”, he said, pointing to about 100,000 Iraqi students at Iranian institutions, an Iraqi community of hundreds of thousands living in Iran, and thousands of daily crossings.

Separately, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Mohammad Kazem al-Sadegh, said officials from the two countries are in contact and a new decision on flights is likely to be announced soon, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

“Iraq is in a difficult situation, allied both to America and to Iran. At times like this, it is squeezed between the two,” said Al Jazeera’s Jack Hewson, reporting from Baghdad.

“Some blame Iran for this, feeling that Iran is too controlling of Iraq. Others blame the US and Israel for having started the war in the first place,” he added.

“Either way, Iraq remains in a very delicate position between all of these larger and more powerful states, continuing to suffer economic consequences and the fallout itself.”

在美国对伊朗航空公司实施制裁之际，阿里·扎伊迪政府敦促各方通过对话缓和地区紧张局势。

一名伊朗乘客携带行李离开伊拉克纳杰夫国际机场。[图片：Alaa Al-Marjani/路透社]

伊拉克正与华盛顿直接对话，寻求使其部分机场免受美国针对该地区伊朗航空公司航班的制裁措施的影响。

周五，四个伊拉克机场暂停了所有往返伊朗的航班。此前几天，华盛顿宣布对任何与伊朗航空公司有业务往来的全球公司实施新的航空制裁。

伊朗取消飞往巴格达和马斯喀特的航班，美国航空制裁生效（列表1/3）

美国新的航空制裁导致伊拉克三个机场中的第二个暂停伊朗航班

伊朗战争导致伊拉克经济雪上加霜，石油收入下降，油价上涨（共3条）。

伊拉克总理办公室周六表示，美国给予巴格达的豁免将允许航班“出于人道主义原因，涉及医疗、教育、宗教访问和平民利益”而恢复飞行。

总理阿里·扎伊迪的媒体办公室发表声明称，巴格达正在努力缓和地区紧张局势，并警告说“危机的持续将使局势进一步复杂化”。

它呼吁各方开展对话和谈判，以结束当前的危机和冲突，维护该地区各国和人民的利益。

由于伊朗飞往巴格达、纳杰夫、埃尔比勒和苏莱曼尼亚机场的航班停飞，乘客们现在被迫进行至少 12 小时的陆路旅行。

邻国伊拉克和伊朗都是什叶派占多数的国家，特别是往返纳杰夫的航班，运送伊拉克什叶派穆斯林朝圣者前往伊朗的圣城，或者运送伊朗人前往伊拉克的圣地。

伊拉克“夹在美国和伊朗之间”

周六，大量示威者聚集在巴格达街头，反对航班停飞，此次抗议活动由伊朗支持的伊拉克民兵组织。

据沙法克新闻报道，来自世界上历史最悠久、最具影响力的什叶派神学院——纳杰夫霍扎神学院的数十名学者和学生于周六晚举行守夜活动，抗议伊朗暂停飞往伊拉克的航班。

神学院学术大会宣读了一份声明，谴责航班停飞，称此时“该地区人民最需要加强兄弟情谊”，并敦促政府“维护伊拉克决策的独立性和主权”。

伊拉克驻伊朗大使亚西尔·哈贾杰表示，两国间航班暂停只是暂时的，不会影响两国关系。他在接受伊拉克国家通讯社采访时说，巴格达方面正与伊朗当局保持联系，以尽快恢复正常的空中交通。

他表示，伊拉克和伊朗之间的关系“太深厚了，不会受到暂时危机的影响”，并指出约有 10 万名伊拉克学生在伊朗的院校就读，数十万伊拉克人生活在伊朗，而且每天有数千人次过境。

另据伊朗伊通社报道，伊朗驻伊拉克大使穆罕默德·卡齐姆·萨迪格表示，两国官员正在联系，可能很快就会宣布有关航班的新决定。

“伊拉克处境艰难，它既是美国的盟友，又是伊朗的盟友。在这样的时刻，它被夹在两国之间，”半岛电视台记者杰克·休森从巴格达报道说。

“有些人将此归咎于伊朗，认为伊朗对伊拉克的控制过于严密。另一些人则指责美国和以色列挑起了这场战争，”他补充道。

“无论如何，伊拉克仍然处于这些更大更强大的国家之间的非常微妙的境地，继续遭受经济后果和冲突本身带来的冲击。”