Fly Baghdad begins legal process to appeal against US sanctions decision

Iraq’s low-cost airline accused of supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force

Iraq’s low-cost airline Fly Baghdad has started legal procedures to appeal against a US Treasury decision to impose sanctions on the company, which has been accused of supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force as well as auxiliary groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The filing process will take seven to 10 days and the airline has two months until March 22 to appeal against the decision, a move that has the full support of the Iraqi authorities, Nameer Al Qaisi, Fly Baghdad’s security manager and aviation consultant, told media on Tuesday.

“We started the procedures for the appeal and all of this is with the full knowledge and support of the Iraqi government, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transportation,” he said.

“The state supports Fly Baghdad because it is sure of our innocence in these charges against us.”

In response to the US Treasury decision late on Monday, the airline initially delayed two flights before resuming normal operations until Tuesday, the executive said.

“We received the news yesterday after work hours and it was very shocking, with no prior warnings or preamble,” Mr Al Qaisi said.

“It was staggering and very surprising because we are far from all these allegations directed against Fly Baghdad … how can a passenger airline fly to countries’ airports transporting weapons and fighters and ammunition without knowledge of the state?

“How can we bypass all these authorities so easily and load our planes with ammunition to countries that are in conflict with the state members of the International Coalition? This is completely illogical.”

Washington on Monday accused Fly Baghdad of being involved in the transfer of hundreds of fighters – including those belonging to designated terrorist organisations – in support of Iranian proxy groups in the region following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

Fly Baghdad chief executive Basheer Abdulkadhim Al Shabbani has also been sanctioned and two Iraq-registered aircraft owned by the airline have been listed as blocked property.

Fly Baghdad is accused of supporting the IRGC Quds Force “for several years” through the delivery of weapons shipments to Damascus to support the groups and other Iran-aligned militia groups in Syria.

The airline has been used by Kataib Hezbollah to transfer personnel, weapons and funds to Syria and Lebanon in support of the Syrian regime, the US said.

The airline has not cancelled flights or halted operations but is advising passengers to call the customer service helpline before going to the airport as the “current situation has many developments”, Mr Al Qaisi said.

“Currently our operations are stable and continuing but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow or in the next hour.”

Passengers took to X, previously known as Twitter, to vent their frustration with Fly Baghdad’s flight delays on Monday evening, though videos showing scenes of chaos at the airport have not been verified independently by media.

Fly Baghdad flies to 45 destinations in the Middle East and Asia. Its route network includes cities such as Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus, Dubai, Istanbul, Mumbai and Tehran.

The airline’s fleet of 11 planes comprises two CRJ regional jets and nine Boeing 737s including the 737-700, 737-800 and 737-900.

The fleet is a mix of owned and leased planes, Mr Al Qaisi said, without providing details.