Supporters of Iran gather on the Shatt Al-Arab Corniche in Basra on Sept. 26, 2026, to protest a decision preventing Iranian aircraft from landing at Iraqi airports.
Iran supporters protest flight halt in Basra and Kufa, with seminary students chanting for Tehran
BASRA — Supporters of Iran protested in Basra and Kufa on Saturday against the halt to Iranian flights at Iraqi airports, with a cleric in Basra threatening to stop any plane landing in Iraq and seminary students in Kufa chanting for Iran’s system of clerical rule.
On the Shatt al-Arab Corniche in Basra, Hamid al-Halfi, a cleric close to the armed factions, told the crowd that protesters would prevent aircraft landing at airports across Iraq unless the decision was reversed immediately, and that the next step would be demonstrations outside the airports. The head of the Basra Provincial Council, Khalaf al-Badran, was among the officials present.
In Kufa, dozens of seminary students gathered at the Imam al-Jawad Mosque, chanting “Yes, yes to Iran, yes, yes to the guardianship. God is greatest. America is the greatest Satan,” a reference to the guardianship of the jurist, the doctrine underpinning Iran’s system of clerical rule. A statement from the gathering said Iraq “deserves to have its decisions stem from the interests of its people and its national will, particularly in its relationship with a Muslim neighbor connected to it by religion, geography, history and common interests.”
“This measure harms Iranian-Iraqi interests and the Iraqi people,” Jabouri Abd, a member of the Najaf religious students’ gathering, told 964media, citing Iraqis treated in Iran, students and pilgrims, and hotels and businesses in religious tourism areas. “We demand that the government reverse its decision and open Iraqi airports to Iranian aircraft.” Another student, Abduljabbar al-Awadi, said: “Our interests are strategically linked with Iran, which represents support for us.”
Nujaba leader Akram al-Kaabi had called earlier for citizens and the groups that serve pilgrims to Imam Hussein’s shrine to prepare for sit-ins inside airports until what he called a U.S. decision is overturned. The Badr bloc warned the government against “submitting to these unlawful decisions.”
The government said on Saturday it is in direct talks with Washington to exempt some airports so flights for medical treatment, education and religious visits can resume, its first public statement since the flights stopped. Baghdad stopped receiving Iranian aircraft from midnight on Tuesday. Najaf said on Wednesday it had no order to stop them, then suspended all flights to and from Iran from 2 a.m. on Friday, on a directive an airport source said came from the prime minister’s office, and nine Iranian airlines stopped operating there. Earlier in the week one official had said private handling companies stopped serving Iranian aircraft for fear of sanctions, while another said the Foreign Ministry had told the Transport Ministry to halt support.
Najaf tourism companies said Iranian airlines accounted for about 90% of their business. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines on Sept. 8, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said they would be effectively shut out of international aviation from Sept. 23.