Iraq closes Sheeb crossing with Iran for security review, officials say
Passengers and commercial trucks have been directed away from the crossing. Reuters reports a security review, while AFP separately reports claims of US pressure on Baghdad.
Iraq closed the Sheeb border crossing with Iran on October 21, stopping passengers, vehicles and commercial trucks at the busy crossing until further notice, according to sources at the site cited by Reuters. An Iraqi border official said the closure would allow a security review and the installation of equipment intended to detect prohibited materials being smuggled across the border.
Security review at the Sheeb crossing
The Iraqi border official described existing security measures at Sheeb as weak and inadequate, Reuters reported. A source at Iraq’s border crossings authority separately told AFP that the crossing had been closed since the morning of October 21 until an unspecified date, but gave no reason for the decision. The accounts establish the closure while attributing its stated purpose to the official who spoke to Reuters.
Iranian official Valiollah Hayati said the crossing, known in Iran as Chazabeh, would remain closed until further notice and attributed the decision to the Iraqi government, according to Reuters’ account of reporting by Iran’s labour news agency. Hayati said Iran’s Interior Ministry and Iraqi provincial authorities were consulting about resuming operations. He advised passengers and truck drivers to use the Shalamcheh crossing, also in Iran’s Khuzestan province.
Iran’s judiciary website Mizan Online also confirmed the closure and said it followed a decision by the Iraqi prime minister’s office, AFP reported. The restrictions affect both ordinary travel and commercial traffic at Sheeb. Hayati’s advice identifies Shalamcheh as an alternative route for people and trucks seeking to cross the border while Sheeb is shut.
AFP reports claims of US pressure on Baghdad
Two political sources told AFP that the United States was pressing Iraq to close its border crossings with Iran. One said the US Treasury Department raised the issue with Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi during his visit to New York the previous month. That account of US pressure is attributed to anonymous sources; the reported security review is the explanation given by the Iraqi border official who spoke to Reuters.
One of AFP’s political sources described a plan under which all crossings would close except one in federal Iraq and one in the Kurdistan region. That was the source’s account of a proposed course of action, not a report that additional crossings had closed. Iraq and Iran share more than 1,400 kilometres of border and have at least eight official crossings, according to AFP.
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Sources and context
- Iraq closes Sheeb border crossing with Iran to review security, sources sayThe Straits Times, carrying Reuters reporting
- Iraq closes border crossing with Iran under US pressure: SourcesKuwait Times, carrying AFP reporting
- Report: Baghdad Closes Border Crossing with Iran Under US PressureAsharq Al-Awsat, carrying AFP reporting; syndicated from Kuwait Times
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.