• Iranian and Iraqi airlines are set to resume flights between the two countries despite the US’s aviation sanctions, according to Iranian media. Iranian carriers will operate 40 flights per day to Iraq’s Najaf airport.

Iraq, Turkey ministers discuss boosting oil exports through Ceyhan pipeline

Iraq’s oil minister, Basim al-Abadi, has held talks with his Turkish counterpart, Alparslan Bayraktar, on increasing Iraq’s export capacity via the Turkish city of Ceyhan near the Eastern Mediterranean coast, according to the Iraqi News Agency.

During the “highly productive” meeting, the men discussed “increasing export capacities via Ceyhan” as well as “the participation of Turkish companies in Iraqi oil and gas projects”, the agency reported.

The meeting was held after Ankara and Baghdad signed a one-year agreement in August to keep crude oil flowing through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline, which stretches from northern Iraq to Turkey.

Iran’s essential closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused Baghdad to scramble to find alternative export routes. The flow of oil between the two countries is expected to extend Baghdad’s only functioning oil export route to the Mediterranean.

First flight from Iran lands in Iraq’s Najaf after nine days

The first flight from Iran has landed at Najaf International Airport in Iraq, carrying more than 150 passengers from Tehran, after flights between the two countries resumed following a halt of more than nine days, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The Caspian Airlines flight arrived on Sunday, the airport’s media director, Mustafa Kubba, told INA.