ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran-aligned Iraqi political and armed factions condemned US sanctions-driven measures halting flights between Baghdad and Tehran, with a lawmaker from the State of Law Coalition telling Rudaw on Wednesday that the Iraqi Parliament will seek to summon key government officials over the shutdown. “We are submitting a request to the Speaker of Parliament to convene an emergency session or add this issue to an upcoming schedule,” Muna al-Ghurabi told Rudaw’s Ziad Ismail, underlining the purpose of the request as investigating the “repercussions with the government and its economic impact on Iraq.” Meanwhile, Miqdad al-Khafaji, a lawmaker from Hoquq Movement - the political wing of the Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah - described a possible decision from the Iraqi government to halt flights as an “unjust decision.” “Iran's stances have been noble in recent years in assisting the Iraqi government and its security forces in the war against [the Islamic State] ISIS,” he told Rudaw. Furthermore, Nazem al-Saeedi, the head of the Harakat al-Nujaba - another Iran-backed armed group - issued a more staunch rejection regarding “Iraq’s involvement in the unjust decision.” Submitting to the US “dictates completely contradicts Iraq’s claims of sovereignty and political independence,” he said in a post on X, calling the ban an "unjust blockade imposed on Muslim peoples.” Iranian authorities announced the suspension of flights to Baghdad starting from Tuesday, while indicating the rerouting of flights to the Shiite holy city of Najaf, according to Tasnim news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Iraqi government has not officially confirmed the suspension. However, the state-run Iraqi News Agency said Wednesday that privately-owned service handlers at the airports have declined “to provide services to Iranian airlines for fear of facing sanctions." “Iraqi airports merely provide a physical environment for private companies that offer their services in exchange for fees, and they do not interfere in any detail regarding the nature of these companies' contracts with airlines,” the statement added. The decision comes against the backdrop of fresh secondary sanctions targeting Iranian aviation. “If they [Iranian planes] land, you cannot provide them with fuel. You cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday in an interview with US broadcaster CNBC. Iranian state media reported on Wednesday the halt of Iranian flights to Baghdad and Muscat but confirmed flights from Iran to Najaf “were continuing according to previously announced schedules without disruption.”
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