Dubai: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Sunday that the country would stop and search flights coming from Iran over suspicions that they might be carrying weapons to Syria.
“We have assured US officials that the Iraqi government is determined to land (Iranian) flights and carry out random searches,” Arabic daily Al-Hayat quoted Zebari as saying.
Iraqi government told Tehran “to stop the flights and stop arming or financing the (Syrian regime) or any other party to the conflict,” the minister said.
Iraq would not “not accept being a transit point or passage way for… arming or financing” the Syrian conflict, he said according to AFP.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Iraqi Vice President Kudayr al-Khuzaie last week in a meeting to stop such flights from Iran.
Zebari said the flights first started in March and were stopped after the Iraqis called on the Iranians to do so. By late July, however, the flights resumed.
“They (the Iranians) said they were not carrying weapons or ammunition but pilgrims, visitors and other things,” said Zebari, adding that “just to be sure, we will land these planes.”
But Iran has insisted that the planes are carrying humanitarian aid to Syria and not weapons.
Photo: AP
