Al-Zaidi orders resumption of Iraq-Iran flights via Najaf

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has personally ordered the resumption of flights between Iraq and Iran, Kurdistan 24's Baghdad correspondent Dilan Barzan confirmed on Monday citing information obtained directly from Iraq's Ministry of Transport, with Iraqi Airways resuming the routes exclusively through Najaf International Airport.

According to information obtained by Kurdistan 24's Baghdad correspondent from Iraq's Ministry of Transport, the resumption of flights between Iraq and Iran has been ordered by Prime Minister al-Zaidi, with the flights operating only through Najaf International Airport in their initial phase.

The Iraqi News Agency separately confirmed that Iraqi Airways has resumed flights between Najaf and Iranian airports, validating both the prime ministerial order and the prediction made earlier in the day by Iraq's Ambassador Yasser Abdul Zahra Hajaj that Najaf Airport would reopen to Iranian routes within less than 24 hours.

The resumption resolves the contradiction that defined Monday morning's aviation story. Iraq's ambassador had told the Iraqi official news agency WAA that obstacles to resuming Iranian flights were being overcome and that Najaf would reopen within 24 hours, while Iran's aviation organization head Abouzar Shirudi said simultaneously that no formal document regarding the resumption had been received from Baghdad. Kurdistan 24's exclusive confirmation from the Ministry of Transport that al-Zaidi personally ordered the resumption now explains the mechanism behind both the ambassador's confidence and the rapid implementation.

The key operational detail is that it is Iraqi Airways, an Iraqi state carrier, flying the routes rather than Iranian airlines, which remain subject to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's September 22 designation grounding all Iranian carriers worldwide by threatening dollar system exclusion for any entity providing fuel, landing services, or ticketing to Iranian aircraft. By using an Iraqi carrier rather than an Iranian one and routing exclusively through Najaf, Iraq appears to have found a sanctions-compliant mechanism to restore air connectivity with Iran without directly triggering the American aviation sanctions framework.

The resumption comes as more than 1,000 Iraqi and Kurdistan Region citizens have been stranded in Tehran since the airline shutdown, including over 300 from the Kurdistan Region, many of whom are ill or recovering from surgery and cannot travel by road or bus, as Mahan Air's Iraq and Kurdistan Region director Sarsang Mahmoud confirmed exclusively to Kurdistan 24 on Saturday. Al-Zaidi's personal order to resume flights via Najaf provides those stranded citizens with a route home.