Iraq Halts Tehran–Baghdad Flights as US Pressure on Iran Widens

Iraq's civil aviation authority announced on Tuesday evening that flights between Tehran and Baghdad would be cancelled from midnight, without offering further explanation for the decision.

The move lands amid the Trump administration's "Operation Economic Outlast" campaign against the Iranian government, and it extends pressure on what remains of Tehran's aviation sector — an ecosystem already carrying layers of US, United Nations and European restrictions dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The cancellation is limited for now to Baghdad International Airport. Flights linking Iran to Irbil and Najaf international airports have not been affected.

In Baghdad, the fallout is expected to be felt most sharply by private businesses rather than the state. Munir Hassan, who owns a travel agency in the capital, said roughly 70 percent of his bookings depend on Iranian travellers — both Iranians visiting Iraq and Iraqis heading to Iran.

"These penalties will affect us in the first place," Hassan said. "It doesn't affect neither governments nor the public sector. It affects mainly the private sector."

Anwar al Musawi, a political analyst based in Baghdad, said the Iranian routes into Baghdad are among the busiest serving the city, alongside Iraqiya airways. He warned that severing them would disrupt treatment travel, trade and visits, including humanitarian trips.

"There are tens, or I believe hundreds of planes flying every week, and this will cause a flaw, shortage, and damage to us," al Musawi said.

Signs of the disruption were visible in the city centre, where travel agency offices and the premises of Iranian carriers — including the empty office of the sanctioned airline Mahan Air — stand in the commercial district.