Iraq’s authorities today prevented the plane carrying Iran’s football team from landing at Basra International Airport because of US sanctions on the Iranian air sector, according to official Iraqi sources.
© Zaid AL-OBEIDI / AFP via Getty Images
10/11/2026
by
Lusa
Airaq’s authorities today prevented the plane carrying Iran’s football team from landing at Basra International Airport because of US sanctions on the Iranian air sector, according to official Iraqi sources.
A source of the Basra Provincial Council stated on condition of anonymity that Iraq banned the landing of the flight “in compliance with the US sanctions imposed on Iranian airlines”, which entered into force at the end of September and affected dozens of Iranian airlines, as well as other countries.
The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority had already announced that it would comply with United States sanctions as regards allowing Iranian flights to land, it indicated the same source in statements to the Spanish news agency EFE, which recalled that Baghdad cannot afford to ignore them due to the economic repercussions it would have for the second largest oil producer in OPEC.
Iran’s national football team had planned to participate in the Basra 2026 International Tournament, a friendly competition that brings together three other teams – from Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine – and which takes place from 13 to 17 November.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced in September the imposition of sanctions on 27 airlines in the Islamic Republic and the threat of penalties for third-country airlines providing services to them in a new attempt to isolate the Persian country from the rest of the world.
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia and Oman suspended operations of Iranian airlines.
Iraq initially suspended airline flights, but later resumed them thanks to an exemption from Washington with the city of Najaf, one of the most important Shia sacred cities, as it houses the shrine of Imam Ali, the first magnet of this branch of Islam, so every year the locality receives millions of pilgrims from Iran.
Sanctions to Iranian airlines are part of the ‘Economic Outlander’ operation launched by Washington to isolate Tehran even more financially and try to double it in the war started on 28 February, to which the blockade to Iranian ports and ships is added.