Iran, Iraq’s Kurdistan Region Start Direct Flights

Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan region launched direct flights between Iran’s Western city of Oroumiyeh and Iraq’s Northern city of Erbil.

Direct flies between Oroumiyeh and Iraq’s Northern city of Erbil are available after the airline between the two cities was launched on Sunday with the presence of a number of Iranian and Iraqi officials.

Director of Oroumiyeh International Airport Kamal Parhizgar said in a ceremony held to celebrate the event that the airline was officially inaugurated with the Sunday flight from Oroumiyeh Airport to Erbil.

Parhizgar said the flight would be two days a week on Sundays and Thursdays.

Iran and the Iraqi Kurdistan region have enjoyed growing ties ever since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, during the 2003 US invasion of the Muslim country.

In January, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi stressed the necessity for the further expansion of the relations between Tehran and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

In a meeting with Head of the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan Ali Abdul-Aziz in Tehran, Rahimi said, “The two nations enjoy brotherly ties and in this while the Islamic Movement of Iraqi Kurdistan, too, is one of the noble movements which is close to both nations.”