Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 19
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has closed borders to Iraqi fuel tankers in order not to disturb the hundred thousands of Iranian pilgrims travelling to Iraqi city of Karbala to participate in a religious ritual, called the Arbaeen.
The ban, which is imposed on the transit fuel tankers on Nov. 15, will be in place till Nov. 25, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
Earlier in March Iran imposed similar ban during Iran’s new year holiday - Norouz.
Reportedly some 500 fuel tankers from the Iraqi Kurdish region enter Iran to deliver their cargo to the Iranian southern ports on a daily basis.
In 2015 Arbaeen gathered some 20 million people in the Iraqi city to be named the biggest human gathering in history. Looking beyond the religious content, it is going to turn into a major economic feature for Iraq and the neighboring Iran as a large-scale tour.