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Iraq Closes Border Crossing With Iran on Concern About Floods

Iraq Closes Border Crossing With Iran on Concern About Floods

(Bloomberg) -- Iraq on Saturday closed its Al-Sheeb border crossing with Iran to trade and travelers until further notice, as flooding continues to submerge more villages.

Al-Sheeb, one of eight crossing points stretching along the border with Iran, will be closed until the wave of floods recess, according to Iraq’s Borders Ports Commission. The shutdown came after a request from Iran, it said.

The crossing is in Iraq’s southern Miysan province and is one of the busiest trade and traveler border points with Iran.

The floods that started last month have killed 70 people, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, and devastated swathes of Western Iran. The waters have destroyed towns and villages, mostly in the provinces of Lorestan and Khuzestan, prompting mass evacuations throughout the area.

--With assistance from Salma El Wardany.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nayla Razzouk at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net, Maria Ermakova, Nicholas Larkin

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