Iraqi government negotiates with Washington for exemptions from the no-fly zone... Iran-backed groups threaten to act

The Iraqi government’s compliance with the U.S. sanctions by banning Iranian flights from its airports has triggered a new crisis in Iraq, amid growing calls to restrict the weapons of Iran-aligned militias. This comes after Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, while in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly, reaffirmed his commitment to consolidating the monopoly on weapons in the hands of the state, outlining a plan to achieve this goal by June 30, 2027.

Al-Zaidi’s media office announced today that the government is in talks with the United States to exempt certain Iraqi airports from the U.S. measures that prohibit flights by Iranian airlines for humanitarian purposes, including medical treatment, education, religious visits, and civilian interests.

In response, Akram al-Kaabi, the secretary-general of the “Nujaba Movement,” which controls an armed militia, called for sit-ins at Iraqi airports to “break the U.S. decision.”

Al-Kaabi demanded “smooth air traffic with Iran,” warning against “waiting too long,” and argued that “talking about sovereignty while the United States turns Iraq into a small village under its control is a double standard,” insisting that this situation “cannot be accepted.”

Yesterday, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” (a militia aligned with Iran), also known as the Hezbollah Brigades-Iraq, called for what it described as an “Iraqi campaign to break the siege imposed by the United States on Iran, especially after the ban on air traffic with it.”

For his part, Adnan al-Dulaimi, the Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and a member of the “Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq” movement, described the ban on Iranian civilian flights at Iraqi airports as “hasty, ill-considered, and in violation of the constitution,” threatening to convene an extraordinary parliamentary session if the decision is not reversed.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, criticized the Iraqi government for its compliance with closing its airports to Iranian flights. Addressing Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Velayati stated that “legitimacy does not come from Washington,” according to the Fars News Agency.