Iraqi civil aviation authorities forced a cargo plane belonging to Iran's Caspian Airlines to land at Baghdad International Airport, the Iraqi Transport Ministry said in a statement on Monday, Aswat al-Iraq reported.
The plane was searched by security forces at the airport, but nothing illegal was found and the plane was allowed to continue its flight, the statement added.
| You wonder if this was all set up since certain Iraqi government officials are mighty cozy with their Iranian cousins... |
Tehran has repeatedly criticized Iraqi officials over the inspection of Iranian planes carrying humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Syria. It says the inspections - which have invariably failed to find any illegal cargo - are carried out under political pressure from other countries.
| True enough but we're going to force you to move arms to Pencilneck in some more indirect way... |
"This measure is not negligible or justifiable, and we have voiced our protest against this approach and consider it a violation of international law and conventions," former Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on April 23.
He added that Iraqi officials had been previously warned against insisting on the inspection of Iranian airplanes. |