Sportsupdated 23m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 1 April 2008Iraq Bars Iran National Football Team From Landing in Basra Over U.S. Sanctions
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Iraq prevented the plane carrying Iran's national football team from landing at Basra. Iraq cited U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines as the reason.
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Basra landing blocked
Iraq barred the Iranian national football team’s plane from landing at Basra airport, and the aircraft returned to Iran before landing at Abadan airport. Iraq’s decision came after the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority linked the refusal to US sanctions on Iranian airlines, and an Iraqi civil aviation official said Iraq could not risk violating US sanctions on Iranian airlines. The Iranian team was traveling to Iraq to participate in a four-nation tournament in Basra involving Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
The tournament was scheduled for November 13 to 17 on Iraqi soil, and the team’s travel plan shifted after the landing ban complicated its arrival in Basra. The US Treasury Department announced sanctions in September on 27 Iranian airlines and warned of penalties for companies from other countries that provide them services, as the restrictions began affecting international sports travel.
Reroute by road
The Iranian consulate official in Basra said the team would now travel overland to Basra after the plane returned to Iran and landed at Abadan airport. Iraqi authorities and the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority framed the landing refusal as compliance with US sanctions, and a Basra Provincial Council source told EFE that Iraq prohibited the aircraft’s landing "in compliance with the U.S. sanctions imposed on Iranian airlines." Al Jazeera said the team was forced to return to Iran before traveling by bus and entering Iraq via the Shalamcheh border crossing to compete in the four-nation tournament.
The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority denied landing rights, and an official from the Iranian consulate confirmed that the team would continue their journey to Basra by road. The Al Jazeera account added that the Iranian Football Federation said the team had prior approval to travel directly from Tehran to Basra before Iraqi authorities revoked the landing permit hours before the flight.
Tournament and sanctions
The Basra International Tournament 2026 was set to include teams from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, and the Iranian team’s altered route left open whether its participation would be modified. The Al Jazeera report said the tournament begins on Friday, November 13, with the Iraqi team opening by facing Lebanon at Basra International Stadium and the Iranian team meeting its Palestinian counterpart on Saturday, November 14. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that airports servicing Iranian airlines could face sanctions, including exclusion from the US dollar system, as Washington tightened restrictions on Iran’s transport sector.
The ABC Noticias account said the sanctions came into effect in late September and affected several Iranian airlines, while Iraq’s earlier suspension of Iranian flights to Baghdad was linked to US threats of secondary sanctions. The incident unfolded as the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions in September against 27 Iranian airlines and pushed the operation described as Economic Pariah to increase financial pressure on Iran.