Iran and Iraq have agreed to cancel visa requirement for travelers of their respective citizens between the two neighboring countries after Arbaeen.
“The decision was made during meetings between Iranian officials and visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi,” Iran’s Ambassador in Baghdad Iraj Masjedi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Al-Kadhimi arrived in Tehran on Sunday at the head of a large government delegation to hold meetings with Iranian officials. He is the first senior foreign official to visit the newly-appointed Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi.
The ambassador explained that the measure applies to air travelers only, as land borders between the two countries is currently closed amid the new surge in Covid-19 cases.
The Civil Aviation Organization of Iran has pointed out that visa cancellation between Iran and Iraq is not related to Arbaeen and all pilgrims must have a visa for traveling to Iraq during this period.
“Talks on visa-free travel between Iran and Iraq have been going on since Sept. 12, but the Foreign Ministry's response is that it will take effect after Arbaeen,” Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh was quoted as saying by IRNA.
He said all pilgrims willing to travel to Iraq are required to sign up in the so-called Samah system (Samah.haj.ir), adding that the Civil Aviation Organization has called on Iranian and Iraqi airlines not to sell tickets from Sept. 19 to Oct. 2 to pilgrims who have not registered in the system.
Arbaeen, one of the world’s largest religious congregations, comes 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and his companions in the Battle of Karbala in the 7th century AD.
Pilgrims in massive numbers converge on the Iraqi city of Karbala to perform Arbaeen rituals in commemoration of the anniversary.
Each year, Muslim pilgrims from across the world converge on Iraq in the weeks leading to Arbaeen and walk toward Karbala on foot.
A large majority of these pilgrims travel from Iran, which shares multiple borders with Iraq. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has disrupted the annual religious event, which will start in two weeks.
According to Zibakhsh, passengers are required to carry their negative PCR test results. They also need to have taken both doses of Covid-19 vaccines to be able to travel to Iraq during the period.
Pilgrims staying in Iraq for less than 72 hours do not need to have a negative PCR from Iraqi laboratories to return to Iran, meaning they can travel to Iraq and return to Iran with the same test result obtained in Iran, he added.
There are no air tours to Iraq for the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage and people can only travel individually to this country this year, he said recently.
“This year, we have neither land tours, nor air tours to the neighboring country. Visas will be issued on a person-to-person basis and only if the PCR test result is negative,” he said.
This is the second year in a row that Iranian pilgrims have been barred from traveling by road to neighboring Iraq for the Arbaeen pilgrimage.
Officials in southwestern Khuzestan Province have announced that no Iranian pilgrim would be allowed through Chazzabeh and Shalamcheh border crossings into Iraq this year.
Likewise, local authorities in western Ilam Province have also closed the busy Mehran border crossing point.
The flights will be operated from Imam Khomeini International Airport, Mashhad’s Hasheminejad International Airport, Shiraz International Airport, Ahvaz International Airport, Tabriz International Airport and Isfahan International Airport this year.
Iraq had initially considered a 30,000-quota for Iranian pilgrims but the figure has reportedly been doubled this year.
In 2019, some 14 million pilgrims attended the event, according to official figures, which dropped significantly in 2020 after the Iraqi authorities allowed only 1,500 pilgrims per country.
Authorities in Iran have also urged people not to flock to border crossing points with Iraq in the coming weeks, as the traditional Arbaeen processions from Iranian border cities to Najaf have again been canceled this year.
The two countries have five official border crossings along the 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) fence.
