Iraq and Iran will resume "very shortly" a twice-daily air service between the two neighboring countries that was broken when their 1980-1988 war erupted, an Iraqi transport ministry spokesman said Monday.
"Iraq and Iran have decided to resume very shortly air links, with two daily flights between Baghdad and Tehran," the spokesman told the Nabd Al-Shabab weekly newspaper, according to AFP.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said during a trip to Iran in January that air services would soon be reopened for Iranian pilgrims who want to visit holy places in Iraq revered by Shiite Muslims.
An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Iranians travel each year to the Shiite shrines of Najaf and Kerbala in the southern area of Iraq, to visit the tombs of Ali and Hossein, the first and third imams in Shia Islam.
The service will be by charter flight to avoid contravening the wide-ranging UN embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990 for invading Kuwait, according to Iran Air.
Iraq and Iran have yet to normalize relations more than 13 years after the end of their war, which cost about one million lives, with relations poisoned by an ongoing dispute over prisoners of war held by each side. (Albawaba.com)
