Iran will soon resume direct flights from Tehran to Irbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan, an Iranian official said on Tuesday, almost six months after the Baghdad government imposed an air ban on the region in retaliation for an independence vote.
Flights will start again on April 27, Morteza Ebadi, the Iranian consul general in Erbil, was quoted as saying by the news agency ISNA.
Foreign airlines suspended flights to Irbil and Sulaimaniya in the region in September 2017, obeying a notice from the Baghdad government. Ebadi said talks were under way to resume flight to Sulaimaniya as well. Iraq’s Kurds overwhelmingly backed independence in the September referendum, defying neighboring countries, which fear the vote could lead to renewed conflict in the region. Reuters
