ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Tens of pilgrims from the Kurdistan Region had to return from Baghdad on Thursday via buses due to recent sanctions on an Iraqi airline for alleged Iran links. More residents of the Region currently performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia are expected to be compelled to return via buses in the coming days, officials told Rudaw.
The US Department of Treasury on Monday announced the adoption of sanctions against Fly Baghdad and its CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani for providing assistance to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Fly Baghdad was accused of transporting fighters, weapons, and money to Syria and Lebanon.
Rudaw has learnt that one of the airline’s aircrafts returned tens of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to Sulaimani province on Thursday but was not allowed to land due to the US sanctions. It was forced to land at Baghdad airport.
“The issue is not related to our airport but sanctions on Fly Baghdad. They are based in Baghdad, therefore it was compelled to land in Baghdad,” an official from Sulaimani International Airport told Rudaw on the condition of anonymity.
An official from Kurdistan Region’s pilgrimage affairs directorate told Rudaw on the condition of anonymity that more people who left Kurdistan Region to Saudi Arabia via Fly Baghdad could be affected by the sanctions.
Fly Baghdad paid for buses which returned tens of pilgrims to Sulaimani on Thursday, the pilgrimage official noted.
The airline has said in a statement on Monday that both the company and its owner were “surprised” by the decision taken by the US Treasury Department.
“Fly Baghdad denounces this decision as it is not based on any material or moral evidence that could convict the company,” read a statement from Fly Baghdad on X, adding that the company has worked “for years under the direct supervision of the Iraqi government”.
Along with Fly Baghdad and its CEO, three senior members of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah were also sanctioned by the US.
Reporting by Soran Hussein
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