Iran to cancel entry visa for Iraqis on condition of reciprocity

Iranian security forces check the passport of a pilgrim at the Mehran border point between Iran and Iraq, as thousands of Iranian Shiite Muslim pilgrims headed towards the central Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on 27 October 2018 [ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images]

The Iranian cabinet yesterday approved the cancellation of entry visas for Iraqi passport holders if Baghdad would offer reciprocal treatment for Iranians.

The official news agency Fars cited a statement by the cabinet as saying that it had approved finding regulations to cancel for 45 days during Arbaeen pilgrimage which is going to take place later this year at the end of summer. This would come into effect for ordinary passport holders.

The statement added that the move was aiming at “facilitating visits by the Iranians to the religious holy sites in Iraq.”

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians embark on a journey to Iraq during Arbaeen, which is the 40th day after the martyrdom of the third Shia Imam Hossein Ibn Ali, who was martyred along with his followers in 680 AD.

READ: US ‘concerned’ about Iraq groups’ use of drones against coalition forces

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.