Iraq caught between Iran ties and US sanctions
Baghdad is caught in the middle between its close relations with Tehran and cooperating with the US on implementing punishing sanctions against Iran, including halting Iranian flights, an analyst says.
“The [Iraqi] prime minister seemed to be very willing to cooperate with the United States,” said Hayder al-Shakeri, a researcher at Chatham House.
“But, at the same time, there are all of these cultural, religious, political, and economic ties to Iran, where there are tens of daily flights between the countries carrying hundreds of passengers, from students to patients to religious visitors and to businessmen.”
Iraq is in direct talks with the US as it seeks to exempt some airports from sanctions targeting Iranian airlines, he said.
“There is a regional war and there has been a lot of tension between the US and Iran to an extreme level, where Iraq is stuck in the middle.”
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