Iranian state media says the situation at the Shalamcheh border is worrying

Reports from state media in Iran on Sunday, October 25, reported a worrying situation at the Shalamcheh border.

According to these reports, law enforcement officers used water cannons to disperse a crowd of pilgrims who were trying to cross the Shalamcheh border terminal and enter Iraqi territory, resulting in the injury of about 40 people.

Fars News Agency said the number of injured was not yet known, but most of them were middle-aged and elderly women. Sharq newspaper also reported on its Twitter account, citing unofficial reports, that one person had died at the terminal.

According to IRNA, the deputy head of security and law enforcement for the Khuzestan governorate has asked pilgrims not to visit the Shalamcheh and Chezabeh borders in this province to travel to Iraq, as they will be turned back by Iranian and Iraqi law enforcement officers.

Iraq has banned Iranian pilgrims from entering the country through land borders due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the two countries have agreed that pilgrims will only enter Iraq through air borders.

The Deputy Director of Aviation and International Affairs of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran has said that initially, Al-Iraqiya Airlines was supposed to take pilgrims to Najaf without a visa and their visas would be issued at the destination airport. However, after an agreement between the Iranian and Iraqi governments, it was decided that all pilgrims would receive visas before flying to Najaf.

However, Iranian pilgrims whose names had been announced to travel on group flights were arriving at the airport, expecting to be allowed to fly to Najaf without a visa.

The Deputy Minister of Aviation and International Affairs of the Civil Aviation Organization also said that despite this, some of them flew to Najaf without visas after numerous consultations with Iraqi officials, but these flights were stopped as the number of pilgrims at the airport increased.

Meanwhile, after the announcement that a number of visa-free pilgrims had flown to Najaf on two planes from Isfahan and Mashhad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially warned the country's aviation organization about the negative consequences of such actions and asked the organization to ensure that airlines refrain from carrying visa-free pilgrims.

Source: Voice of America