AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The office of Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi, one of Iraq's religious authorities, on Saturday in a statement criticized some decisions and actions of the Iraqi government that, according to it, were taken far from the will of the people and the religious authority, especially regarding compliance with sanctions imposed against Iran.
The office of Ayatollah al-Modarresi in this statement condemned "creating restrictions on the movement of pilgrims of holy sites in Iraq and closing the airspace or crossings to pilgrims."
The statement continues, "What is expected of Iraqi officials is that, instead of creating restrictions for pilgrims, they facilitate their entry through various crossings."
The office of Ayatollah al-Modarresi also praised the deep brotherly cooperation and solidarity between the Iraqi and Iranian peoples.
This morning, the office of Ali al-Zaydi, the Prime Minister of Iraq, announced the start of direct talks with Washington to exempt some airports from the actions of the US Treasury Department.
The purpose of these talks has been announced as resuming flights for humanitarian, medical, and educational cases.
On the other hand, a number of official institutions and Iraqi groups condemned the closure of the country's airports to Iranian flights and called on the government to retreat from this decision and not submit to American dictates.
These developments come after several governments in the region and the world announced their adherence to new US sanctions against Iranian flights.
The US Treasury Department on September 8 imposed sanctions on 27 Iranian airline companies, which is part of this country's campaign to isolate Iran's aviation industry from the financial and global system.
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