TEHRAN, 30 August 2003 — Iran is in discussions over the reopening of its border with US-occupied Iraq as it seeks to regulate pilgrimages to holy places by its Shiite-majority population, officials said yesterday.
The Tehran authorities were “discussing the reopening of the border with Iraq”, the head of Iranian pilgrimage organization, Ahmad Zarhani, said. “We are trying to open an office in Iraq to supervise the Iranian pilgrimage caravans there ... since the wellbeing of our citizens is very important,” Zarhani told the official IRNA news agency. Interior Minister Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari announced late Thursday that Iran planned to reopen three border crossings within the next few days.
“Three border exits — Mehran in Ilam Province, Khosravi in Kermanshah Province, and Shalamcheh in Khuzestan Province — will be officially reopened for pilgrimage in the coming days,” Musavi-Lari told IRNA.
“The conditions in which pilgrims can go to Iraq will be announced soon, taking into consideration the security concerns,” he said.
It is not the first time that Iran has announced an imminent reopening of the border, closed since the launch of the US-led war. On Aug. 14, the commander of the Iranian police, Gen. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was quoted as saying that it would reopen for pilgrims within the next few days. Despite awkward relations with the US-led coalition now occupying Iraq, Tehran has faced mounting pressure to regulate pilgrimages to the Shiite holy places amid a growing death toll from illegal crossings. As many as 183 Iranians have died making unauthorized pilgrimages to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April, officials here have said.
