BASRA, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Iraq has closed the busy Sheeb border crossing with Iran to review security and install detection equipment to stop the smuggling of prohibited materials, an Iraqi border official said on Wednesday.
Sheeb would be closed to passengers, vehicles and commercial trucks until further notice, two other sources at the crossing said.
A security official from Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province also said that the Sheeb crossing, known in Iran as Chazabeh, will be closed until further notice, adding that the decision was taken by the Iraqi government, the Iranian labour news agency reported on Wednesday.
The Iranian official, Valiollah Hayati, said consultations to resume operations at the border crossing were ongoing between Iran’s Interior Ministry and Iraqi provincial authorities.
Hayati advised passengers and trucks to use Shalamcheh crossing, also in Khuzestan province, which Iraq closed temporarily in September as a precaution after drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, two security sources said at the time. Riyadh said the drones had been launched from Iraq, which did not comment on the matter.
The current security measures at Sheeb are weak and inadequate, the Iraqi border crossing official told Reuters.
(Reporting by Aref Mohammed, additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Muayad Hameed and Menna Alaa El Din; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)
