Iran suspends ticket sales for flights to Iraq; U.S. threatens sanctions on firms working with Iranian airlines

Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority announced it has suspended ticket sales for flights to Iraq “until further notice,” a day after it suspended flights to the neighboring country, the semi-official Iranian agency Tasnim reported.

The decision comes after flights to Najaf were suspended on Friday.

Earlier, two sources told Reuters that Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports had also suspended flights to and from Iran, following the earlier suspension of Iranian flights from Baghdad and Najaf. According to the authority’s statement, “given the presence of passengers at the airports of both countries, airlines have been instructed to facilitate the return of passengers to their country of origin.”

In parallel, the United States announced it would impose sanctions on any global company doing business with Iranian airlines, claiming Tehran is using civilian aircraft to transport weapons to its allies in the region, as Al Jazeera reports.

The suspension of flights is increasingly closing the regional skies, at a time when the U.S.–Iran war has entered its seventh month and negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz continue on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.