Arabic News

Iraq Resists Iranian Pressure to Reopen Border Closed to Slow Covid-19

With the coronavirus raging in Iran, a push to distance their country from their neighbor has gained broader appeal in Iraq.

Truck by truck, border post by border post, a power struggle is unfolding between Iraq and Iran over when to reopen the frontier between the two countries, which Iraq closed five weeks ago to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Iran, which has been hit hard by the virus but needs trade with Iraq to help stabilize its economy, wants it reopened immediately.

Iraq, which fears opening the border to the region’s most heavily infected country, is resisting.

The dispute comes at a time of mounting pressure in Iraq to reduce Iran’s influence, which has been an increasingly powerful force in Iraqi affairs since the United States and its allies overthrew the government of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The coronavirus first arrived in Iraq from Iran, and only through strenuous efforts has Iraq kept its caseload relatively low, with only 82 deaths attributed to the virus by Monday.

Iran is one of the world’s coronavirus epicenters, with more than 75,000 cases and 5,200 deaths reported, and some 1,400 new cases a day.

Iraq closed its 1000-mile border with Iran to Iranians on March 8 and a week later stopped allowing even Iraqi citizens living in Iran from returning to their home country. Until then, the border had been largely porous, with some Iraqis having family members on both sides and Shiite Muslim religious pilgrims going back and forth.

Now, Iran’s leaders are desperate to start reviving an economy staggering under American sanctions and falling oil prices. They recently reopened cities and ended the country’s stay-at-home policy to try to get Iranians back to work.

Without trade and movement between Iran and Iraq, however, Tehran will be hard put to get some of its non-oil industries fully functional again.