Iraq's Najaf airport, a top destination for Shiite Muslims, suspended all Iranian flights Friday, enforcing U.S. sanctions, the airport director told the news agency. Airport director Hussein Muhanna said "all flights were halted between Iran and Najaf airport following a directive from the prime minister's office to the governor" of Najaf. The airport in the holy city south of Baghdad is a major hub for Iranian flights.They carry many Iraqi Shiite pilgrims to Iran's holy cities and Iranians visiting sacred sites in Iraq.
The flights also serve Iraqi students studying in Iran, and patients seeking medical treatment there. The bond between Iraq and neighboring Iran, both Shiite-majority nations, runs deep and is shaped by both religion and politics. Iranian airline flights were suspended at Najaf's airport early Thursday morning, the airport director said.
Several sources, including a senior government official, told earlier this week that Iraq would enforce the U.S. ban on Iranian airlines, joining several other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said Iranian airlines would "shut down" Wednesday, and he threatened countries that did not comply with expulsion from the U.S. dollar system. Although land routes are available, Iraq remains one of the top destinations for Iranian airlines, especially after Iraqi airlines stopped flying to Iran at the start of the Iran war in February.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the U.N. General Assembly to use the podium in front of other world leaders as a "loudspeaker for justifying war and aggression," but he argued the mass walkout by dozens of other delegations "spoke louder than any speech." "The world is not fooled by narrative-building," Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X Thursday evening. "History will judge crime, occupation and aggression, not propaganda displays in New York." As Netanyahu took the stage in New York Thursday, many attendees walked out, but CBS News has not confirmed Gharibabadi's claim that 77 national delegations left the chamber.
"If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now," Netanyahu said as the officials filed out, before launching into a defense of his country's actions in Iran and across the Middle East. "We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice," he said, adding his thanks to President Trump for supporting Israel throughout the interlinked wars in the Middle East.
Iran wants to make a deal with the U.S. before the midterm elections in November, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told journalists from several news organizations Thursday in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. "We don't want it to get to the midterm elections," Pezeshkian said. "We wish Americans to return to the MoU before the midterms," he added, referring to the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries in June.
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