On January 22, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions that included Iraqi political and security figures, as well as Fly Baghdad airline, under various pretexts. Fly Baghdad was accused of transporting weapons and military equipment on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to regional airports. The new sanctions list points to pressures and sanctions that will escalate against Iraq, coinciding with the formation of a joint military committee between Iraq and the United States to negotiate assessing the threat of the ISIS terrorist organization and future security partnership after the withdrawal of the international coalition from Iraq.
Including an independent company from the Iraqi private sector in the U.S. sanctions is one of the most significant pressures the United States attempts to use to target the political and security situation in Iraq. The accusations against the company lack logical evidence for discussion. Moreover, the United States imposed these sanctions without any notification to the Iraqi government or the Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for all activities related to airlines and specific inspection and security procedures, as in the case of notifying the Central Bank about potential sanctions on Iraqi banks for not following certain methods in dollar transactions.
