Senior cleric blasts submission to US bullying as Iraq given one-month Iran flight waiver

Iraq's Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba has condemned Baghdad's decision to suspend Iranian flights, calling it submission to US bullying, as it emerged that the Iraqi government is scrambling to secure a one-month US Treasury exemption just to allow its national carrier to operate civilian passenger flights to Iran.

His remarks come amid reports that the Trump administration is set to grant a one-month US Treasury waiver allowing Iraqi Airways to fly between Iran and Najaf.

Sheikh Ali al-Asadi, head of the political bureau of the Iraqi resistance group, regretted the decision by the Iraqi officials to prevent Iranian aircraft from landing in Iraq in the first place. 

"Iraq should not submit to an irresponsible US decision," al-Asadi stressed, saying the issue goes beyond airports given the close ties between Iraq and Iran.

Asadi warned that "all possibilities are on the table", calling on the government to retract the decision. "Otherwise, popular mobilization and pressure will emerge to change this decision." 

Iraqi officials, the Nujaba official noted, can follow the example of other countries and refuse to implement every US decision.

He linked the decision to weakness in Iraq's domestic political scene, which has allowed Washington to impose its decisions on Baghdad.

Asadi called for independent decision-making in Iraq's "sovereign, political and economic affairs, free from foreign pressure and interference."

Iraq suspended Iranian flights following new US sanctions targeting Iran's aviation sector, with Washington threatening measures against companies providing services to Iranian airlines.

Iraqi Airways is now preparing to resume flights to Iran in October only after Iraq's transport ministry said it had secured a special exemption allowing the carrier to operate services to Iran — a waiver provided by the US Treasury that will run for just one month, with the number of allowed flights not yet determined, according to a source in the Iraqi transport ministry.

Iraq halted flights to and from Iran on Friday in line with US sanctions, and the government had sought exemptions for travel related to pilgrimage, medical treatment and education.

The transport ministry said services next month would initially operate from the holy city of Najaf once regulatory and technical requirements were completed.

Baghdad has offered safeguards including passenger screening and information sharing, as well as measures to prevent the flights being used to transport weapons, sanctioned individuals or illicit money, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Asadi also took aim at the Iraqi government's plan under the US pressure to establish a state monopoly over weapons.

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He said discussions with the Coordination Framework of Iraq's resistance groups have led them to reject the term "monopoly of weapons."

"We have changed it to 'organization of weapons' because the previous term is harmful and creates unnecessary tensions," he said. 

He revealed information about US activities and a unit that, according to al-Asadi, was formed with Iraqi government's participation under US supervision.

"We know where this unit is based and what its duties will be in the next stage," he said, adding that all its activities are being monitored.

Al-Asadi described the unit as being formed for "assassinations and incitement," comparing it to Blackwater under another name.

Blackwater, founded in 1996, was a private security firm that operated as a contractor in Iraq and several other countries, but became widely notorious for the widespread crimes committed by its mercenaries in Iraq.

He also described US activities in Iraq as "suspicious," maintaining that American security companies had entered the country to compensate for the US military withdrawal.

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