Flights between Iran and Iraq resumed on Sunday after a brief suspension linked to US sanctions pressure on Iranian aviation and airport handling services. Najaf International Airport was the first route to return, with Iranian and Iraqi carriers operating again after Iraq secured a waiver allowing Iranian airlines, except Mahan Air, to run up to 40 daily flights to and from the airport.
The restart centred on Najaf, while services at Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah were still described as suspended in some reports, indicating that normal operations had not yet returned across all Iraqi airports. Iranian civil aviation officials and Iraqi airport sources framed the move as the outcome of coordination at senior levels, and passengers were urged to check schedules before travelling.
The route is a key channel for religious travel, medical trips and wider passenger traffic between the two countries. The suspension had forced many travellers onto long overland journeys, while the disruption also reflected wider sanctions concerns affecting ground-handling and other aviation service providers rather than airline operations alone. At Najaf, officials indicated that services would be restored gradually and would depend on airline schedules.