A number of MPs from Basra province have given the federal government a 48-hour deadline to reverse the decision to ban Iranian airline flights in Iraqi airports.
The head of the Al-Muntaserun parliamentary bloc, Faleh Khazali, threatened during a press conference held at the House of Representatives office in the Sa'i area of Basra, which was covered by the "Video News Agency," to begin collecting parliamentary signatures to host Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi, Minister of Transport Wahab Al-Hosni, and the head of the Civil Aviation Authority under the dome of the House of Representatives if the issue is not resolved within the specified timeframe.
He explained that the implications of this decision are not limited to the aviation sector alone, but extend to casting shadows over the movement of travelers, tourism, and patients, pointing out that the stoppage of about 50 flights daily causes annual losses estimated at about $242 million in ground services.
He added that the ban directly affects about 120,000 Iraqi students from graduate studies who are studying in Iran, as they will be forced to travel through land crossings, in addition to the subsequent harm to Iraqi patients, especially those from Basra province heading to Mashhad for treatment.
Khazali warned of the dangerous repercussions of continuing the cessation of flights on the tourism sector and the movement of travelers between Iraq and Iran, renewing the warning and giving the federal government the specified deadline to resolve the issue, while effectively beginning to collect parliamentary signatures to host the executive officials in a parliamentary session to discuss the repercussions if the deadline expires without resolution.