Iraq barred a plane carrying Iran’s national football team from landing at Basra airport on Tuesday over concerns about U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines, according to Reuters reporting carried by Al Jazeera.

Two Basra airport officials told Reuters that the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority had blocked the landing. An Iraqi civil aviation official said the country could not risk violating the sanctions.

The plane returned to Iran and landed at Abadan airport, an Iranian consulate official in Basra said. The official said the team would instead travel by road to Basra.

Iran’s team was heading to a four-nation football tournament also involving Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

The disruption follows restrictions on Iranian flights elsewhere in Iraq. Al Jazeera reported that Iraq ordered Iranian flights to Baghdad airport suspended in September after Washington threatened secondary sanctions against airports and service providers handling Iranian carriers. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that airports servicing Iranian airlines could face sanctions, including exclusion from the U.S. dollar system.

Sources