Iraq closed three border crossings with Iran, Shalamcheh in Basra, al-Shaib in Maysan and Mandali in Diyala, and suspended flights to Iran, after launch sites for the drones that struck the Saudi pipeline were found near them12. No source dates the decision, and the government has not published one.
The Israel Defence Forces struck Shalamcheh on 5 April, describing it as a logistics corridor connecting Iranian supply lines to Iraqi territory, so the point Baghdad has now shut is the same point an outside air force judged worth bombing. Closing it costs Iraqi trade as much as it costs Iranian supply, and Baghdad has not said how long the closure runs.
The flight suspension reaches less far than the closures. Iraq closed its national airspace outright early in the war, extending the shutdown by 72 hours in March; this order stops traffic to one country. Baghdad has aimed both instruments at the border the drones came from, which is also the border its own economy depends on.
