The US granted Iraq a sanctions exemption for Iranian flights to Najaf. Mahan Air remains excluded from the agreement.
Iraq announced Friday it has secured a U.S. exemption allowing Iranian airlines, excluding the sanctioned carrier Mahan Air, to operate up to 40 daily flights to and from Najaf International Airport, restoring air travel to the Shiite holy city a week after sanctions-related disruptions halted service. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s office credited sustained diplomatic engagement with Washington for the exemption, which expands an earlier waiver that had applied only to Iraqi Airways.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran’s aviation sector on Sept. 8, targeting 36 entities and warning that companies doing business with Iranian airlines could be cut off from the U.S. dollar financial system. Foreign ground-handling companies subsequently refused to service Iranian aircraft at Iraqi airports, halting flights at four locations, including Najaf, which suspended all Iranian service roughly a week ago. Mahan Air, which the U.S. accuses of transporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard personnel along with weapons and drones, remains barred from the exemption. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has criticized the sanctions’ extraterritorial enforcement as illegal and disruptive to trade and transport.
Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad, Mohammad Kazem al-Sadegh, said roughly 25 daily flights previously operated between Iran and Najaf and about 15 to Baghdad before the suspension, carrying between 12,000 and 13,000 passengers daily. Al-Zaidi said the restored flights would facilitate travel for patients seeking medical care, religious pilgrims and tourists. The statement did not specify how long the exemption would last. Enforcement of the broader U.S. sanctions has been uneven elsewhere in the region; Turkey has allowed Iran Air to continue flying to Istanbul while barring Mahan Air, and the United Arab Emirates halted all Iranian flights entirely.
This report is based on information from Arab News, The National, Anadolu Agency and 964 Media.