Iraqi officials say that they have forced a third Iranian civilian flight to land this week, a 747 cargo plane bound for Syria. It is the third plane in as many days Iraq has searched on the Iran-Syria route.
Iraq did two searches of planes last year at the Obama Administration’s behest, but stopped since neither search turned up anything. Officials say none of the three new searches have found any arms or other banned goods.
Last month, Secretary of State John Kerry demanded Iraq ban all overflights from Iran, claiming that they are loaded with weapons for the Syrian government. The US has refused to provide any evidence for the claims, however.
Lacking evidence, Iraq has refused the ban, but did agree to more searches in an effort to placate the Obama Administration. Not finding anything will likely just make the US angry again, however, and lead to more demands.
