ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The closure of the Mandali-Sumar border crossing between Iran and Iraq was due to maintenance work, an Iranian official said Friday, amid US pressure on Baghdad to close most of its border crossings with Tehran.
“The Sumar border crossing has been temporarily closed from Friday until further notice to carry out technical and infrastructure work, as announced by the national Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization,” Dariush Sadeghi, head of the Kermanshah provincial customs office, told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
On Tuesday, Iraq’s Border Ports Authority announced the temporary closure of the crossing, citing technical preparations, maintenance, and upgrades ahead of the rainy season.
The announcement coincided with the reopening of the Sheeb crossing, farther south along the two countries’ 1,599-kilometer shared border, which had been closed in late October.
The explanations from Tehran and Baghdad come as Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has said Washington is pressuring Baghdad to close all but two of its border crossings with Iran.
Washington’s “Iron Gate” initiative, announced earlier this month, aims to economically isolate Tehran by restricting trade through its land borders. It is part of broader US measures against Iran, including a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and sanctions on Iranian assets.
The US policy has raised concerns about the potential economic fallout for both Iraq and Iran.
“There are many official and unofficial crossings with Iran, and closing them all is difficult and affects our economy,” Hussein said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday.
In a separate interview with France 24 on Friday, Hussein said Baghdad had not implemented Washington’s requests to close the crossings, describing them as “difficult” to carry out.
He added that Baghdad was “still in negotiation” with Washington over the matter because of the potential economic impact on Iraq, describing the proposed closures as a “sanction against the Iraqi people.”
IRNA reported on Sunday that goods worth $368.91 million had passed through the Mandali-Sumar crossing in the first six months of the year, while nearly $3 billion worth of goods are exported annually through the two countries’ shared border crossings.
