Iraqi envoy says Iranian flights to Najaf airport to resume soon
Yasser Abdul Zahra al-Hajjaj, Iraq’s ambassador to Iran, says the Najaf airport will be reopened for Iranian flights within the next 24 hours, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reports.
Four Iraqi airports suspended all flights to and from Iran on Friday after Washington announced new aviation sanctions on any global company doing business with Iranian airlines.
Iraq says it’s in direct talks with the United States as it seeks to exempt some of its airports from sanctions targeting Iranian flights internationally.
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People protest in Iraq against Iran flight suspensions
Footage of people protesting flight cancellations across Iraq has circulated on social media. More than 100 people have marched outside Najaf airport, waving Iraqi flags in a demonstration against several airports’ decisions to suspend flights to and from Iran.
At another site in the Al-Nasiriya Corniche area, the centre of Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq, protesters demanded to lift what they called “the siege”.
The decision by Iraqi airports comes after the latest US efforts to ramp up restrictions on Iran in an attempt to isolate the country from the global economy.
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Flights to Iranian airports resume from Najaf in Iraq
Iraqi Airways has resumed flights between Najaf al-Ashraf airport and Iranian airports after being suspended on Friday over US sanctions, according to Iraq’s state news agency.
The announcement comes after hundreds protested against the suspension earlier today.
Four Iraqi airports, including Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah, halted all flights to and from Iran on Friday, days after the US announced new aviation sanctions on any global company that does business with Iranian airlines.
On Saturday, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said Baghdad was working to secure US exemptions for Iran flights to resume “on humanitarian grounds related to medical treatment, education, religious visits and the interests of civilians”.
On Monday evening, Iraq’s ambassador to Iran, Yasser Abdulzahra Al Hajjaj, said that people in Iraq could expect flights to resume “within 24 hours”, according to Iraqi media.
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Iraq looks for Strait of Hormuz alternatives to export oil
Iraqi political and security analyst Sarmad Al-Bayati told Al Jazeera that the lack of quick solutions for Iraq’s oil export conundrum is a major problem for the country.
“At present, the only option is to export through the Strait of Hormuz, which depends primarily on the situation in the strait,” Al-Bayati told Al Jazeera.
“Other alternatives, such as oil exporting routes through Syria or Turkiye, or even future plans to extend a pipeline through Jordan, are unrealistic and impractical at the moment, offering no real solutions to Iraq’s current crisis if the situation remains as it is in the strait.”
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