Iraq closes Sheeb border crossing with Iran to review security, sources say

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, said two other sources at the crossing.

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 labor 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.

Meanwhile, Turkey will submit to parliament a mandate allowing for military personnel to be deployed to Saudi Arabia under its joint defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a lawmaker from the ruling AK Party told Reuters on Wednesday.

The lawmaker said the mandate would be sent to parliament once a bill ratifying the accord has been approved.

Turkey submitted the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement — signed by the three countries in August — to parliament for ratification on Tuesday, moving NATO's second-largest army closer to a formal mutual defense pledge with Riyadh as it faces Houthi attacks.