Visiting
Iraq's Minister Foreign Hoshyar Zebari takes a seat during a meeting with his
Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, on June 15, 2012.
Iraq is
determined to stop and search flights from Iran over its territory which are
suspected of carrying weapons to Syria, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in
comments reported on Sunday.
"We
have assured US officials that the Iraqi government is determined to land
(Iranian) flights and carry out random searches," Zebari said, quoted by
Arabic daily Al-Hayat.
The
Iraqi minister added that his government had told Tehran "to stop the
flights and stop arming or financing the (Syrian regime) or any other party to
the conflict." Zebari said Iraq would not "not accept being a transit
point or passage way for... arming or financing" the Syrian conflict.
Last
week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed Baghdad to deliver on
pledges to stop such flights during a meeting with Iraqi Vice President Kudayr
al-Khuzaie.
Clinton
reported "some encouraging first steps," citing an incident in which
Iraqi authorities stopped a North Korean flight from crossing its air space
while on its way to Syria over suspicions it was carrying arms and advisers.
Zebari
said the flights first started in March and were stopped after the Iraqis
called on the Iranians to do so. By late July, however, the flights resumed.
"They
(the Iranians) said they were not carrying weapons or ammunition but pilgrims,
visitors and other things," said Zebari, adding that "just to be
sure, we will land these planes." Washington has been calling on Baghdad
to ensure that all Iranian planes flying over its air space are ordered to land
and checked for weapons.
Tehran
has told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki the planes are carrying
humanitarian aid to Syria, where the opposition has been fighting since last
year to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
But many
in the US government suspect the planes are ferrying military equipment to the
Assad regime.
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