Tehran refuses to let Maliki fly over Iran

Iran refused to allow the Iraqi prime minister to fly across its airspace as he was traveling to Tokyo, members of the delegation traveling with Nouri Maliki said early today.

Two delegation members said Maliki’s plane was diverted Saturday night to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he stayed in the airport for more than three hours while his government aircraft was refueled and a new flight plan was filed.

The delegation members spoke about the incident by telephone from Dubai. A government official in Baghdad confirmed their account. All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

All three said the Iranians told Maliki’s pilot that they had not been informed in advance of the prime minister’s need to cross Iran by air.

None of the three had any information on whether that was true or an Iranian action designed to inconvenience and embarrass Maliki.

Iranian officials were unavailable to comment early today.

If the refusal to allow Iraq’s leader to cross Iran in his government plane was anything more than the result of confusion or poor communication, the incident would be a major snub for Maliki.

He is not known to have flown to Iran or used its airspace since he became prime minister in June. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani flew to Tehran in November for meetings with government officials.

Maliki was traveling to Japan to finalize a loan for Iraq to repair and upgrade its energy industry. When it was announced in December, the loan was worth about $707 million.