Iran Presses Baghdad to Scrap Remaining Flight Curbs Tied to US Sanctions

Iran's Foreign Ministry has publicly urged Iraq to dismantle the last remnants of flight restrictions imposed in connection with American sanctions, arguing that normal air travel between the two neighbouring countries must be fully restored. The appeal, issued in a statement on Thursday, came just days after services partially resumed at one Iraqi airport, underscoring the uneven and fragile nature of the recovery in bilateral aviation links.

Tehran did not confine its criticism to Baghdad. The ministry described Washington's efforts to disrupt Iranian trade and air transport as "illegal and inhumane," condemning what it characterised as the extraterritorial enforcement of US sanctions. In Iran's view, the measures reach well beyond America's own borders and coerce third parties—including Iraqi airport operators, ground handlers and carriers—into compliance.

The statement stressed that the large-scale movement of Iranian and Iraqi citizens demands what it called an independent and responsible approach to disagreements between the two governments. That phrasing suggests Tehran wants Baghdad to treat people-to-people travel as a matter distinct from the wider geopolitical standoff between Iran and the United States, rather than allowing sanctions compliance to dictate policy.

Some relief has already arrived. Flights linking the Iraqi city of Najaf with Iran restarted late on Monday, according to the state-run Iraqi News Agency, which attributed the resumption to what it described as diligent efforts by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. Najaf, home to one of the most revered shrines in Shia Islam, is a major destination for Iranian pilgrims and the restoration of service there carries both religious and economic significance.

Iraq's ambassador to Iran, Yasser Abdulzahra al-Hajjaj, has said Baghdad never took a decision to suspend Iranian flights. That assertion places the blame for the disruption squarely on foreign ground-handling companies, which refused to provide services for fear of running afoul of US sanctions. Their caution reflects the far-reaching nature of the American measures, which expose any firm doing business with Iranian airlines to potential penalties.

The consequences of that corporate caution have been severe. Flights remained suspended at Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah airports, leaving travellers to endure overland journeys of at least twelve hours. The disruption has been especially painful for pilgrim traffic moving between the Shia-majority areas of Iraq, a flow that typically peaks around major religious observances and sustains a network of hotels, restaurants and transport providers.

Public anger has spilled onto the streets. According to the Iranian news agency Press TV, the suspensions prompted protests across Iraq, including demonstrations outside Najaf airport and gatherings in Nasiriya, Karbala and Amarah. These are regions where ties to Iran—religious, commercial and familial—run deep, and where the sudden loss of air connections is felt as a practical hardship rather than an abstract diplomatic dispute.

The measures at the centre of the row took effect on September 23 and target any company conducting business with Iranian airlines. Their impact on Iran's international connectivity has been dramatic. Data from the aviation monitor FlightRadar24 shows that flights to and from Tehran's Imam Khomeini international airport have fallen by 42 percent. Several routes have been severed completely, with services to Georgia, Oman and Azerbaijan halted entirely and flights to Dubai suspended since the sanctions kicked in.

Not all routes have collapsed. Flights to China have held steady despite the pressure, while the busiest route—to Turkiye—has declined by only 19 percent, even as individual airlines have shifted service on and off the route. This patchwork picture suggests that some carriers and governments are finding ways to maintain links, weighing commercial interests and bilateral relationships against the risk of US penalties.

The aviation crisis fits into a broader regional context that has grown increasingly volatile. Iraq has sought a US exemption from the ban on Iranian flights on humanitarian grounds, citing medical treatment, education, religious visits and the interests of civilians. Those arguments highlight how travel restrictions can obstruct access to healthcare and schooling, not merely tourism or commerce, and how dependent ordinary Iraqis and Iranians have become on cross-border air links.

For Iraq, the dilemma is acute. Baghdad maintains close political and religious ties with Tehran, yet it also needs to avoid provoking Washington, whose sanctions architecture can entangle Iraqi banks, businesses and service providers. The government's request for a humanitarian carve-out reflects an attempt to square those competing pressures, while the continued suspension at three major airports shows how difficult that balancing act remains.

Iran, for its part, appears determined to keep the issue in the public eye. By issuing a formal statement and framing the restrictions as a violation of the principle that neighbouring states should manage their differences independently, Tehran is appealing both to Iraqi public opinion and to Baghdad's sense of sovereignty. The reference to millions of citizens on the move is a reminder that the stakes extend far beyond aviation policy.

The partial reopening at Najaf offers a template for how the impasse might be eased incrementally—through targeted, locally negotiated arrangements that allow essential travel while insulating service providers from sanction exposure. Whether such arrangements can be extended to Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah is less clear, given the larger volumes and higher profiles involved.

For now, the situation remains fluid. Iranian officials continue to press for the full restoration of services, Iraqi authorities insist they never sought a suspension, and ground-handling firms remain wary of US enforcement. Until those tensions are resolved, thousands of travellers will keep taking the long road, and one of the region's busiest pilgrimage corridors will continue to operate well below its capacity.