Iraq Closes Shaib Border Crossing With Iran Indefinitely As Federal Government Orders Shutdown
The closure follows PM al-Zaidi's September 12 directive after Iran-linked drone strikes on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline were traced to Iraqi territory, with investigation committees formed to identify smuggled materials and hold responsible parties accountable
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Iraq has closed the Shaib border crossing with Iran indefinitely, an informed source from Maysan Provincial Council told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday following a federal government directive that took effect at 06:00 this morning and will remain in force until further notice.
The source confirmed that government instructions arrived from Baghdad to close the Shaib crossing, located in eastern Maysan province, effective from 06:00 Wednesday morning and continuing for an unspecified duration. The closure was described as being for administrative reasons, without further details being disclosed about the specific cause or expected duration.
The Background
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi issued a directive on September 12, 2026, ordering the closure of border crossings with Iran, including Shaib, following confirmation that Tehran was involved in drone strikes that targeted Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline and that those strikes were launched from Iraqi territory. The decision came after it was confirmed that Iran was implicated in the attack, which Riyadh condemned and chose not to respond to militarily at the Iraqi prime minister's own request.
The source clarified that the reason behind the original closure of those crossings was the smuggling of drone manufacturing materials, equipment, and weapons components from Iran into Iraq, which Iran-aligned resistance factions then used to conduct strikes on Saudi Arabia. The closure of Shaib, Shalamcheh, and Mandali was made by a special decision from the Prime Minister issued directly from his own office.
Investigation committees have been formed to identify the details of the materials that were smuggled through, determine any negligence on the part of security forces and official parties, and hold accountable those found to be involved.
Wednesday's reimplementation of the Shaib crossing closure suggests the crossing had partially or temporarily resumed operations between September and now, and that the federal government has issued a new or reaffirmed directive to shut it down again, with the administrative framing of today's closure potentially reflecting a bureaucratic rather than a security designation in how the order was communicated to local authorities.
The closure comes as Iraq is simultaneously managing the June 2027 militia disarmament deadline, Washington's dollar transfer conditionality, the post-coalition security vacuum along the 560-kilometer disputed areas frontier, and active US-Iran negotiations through Qatari and Pakistani mediators.