Parvizkhan Border Crossing Remains Closed for 3 Months

EghtesadOnline: Despite the Interior Ministry’s announcement last week that Parvizkhan border crossing in the western Kermanshah Province will be reopened within 48 hours, this frontier with Iraq’s Kurdish region remains closed, the head of Kermanshah Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture said.

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14 January 2018

Keyvan Kashefi added that Parvizkhan border crossing has been closed for around three months now, which has led to 3,000 people losing their jobs.

“Exports and transits through this frontier crossing amounts to close to $3 billion per year and its closure will have a negative effect on the country’s overall exports,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Iran closed its border crossings with the Iraqi Kurdistan after a referendum was held in the region on Sept. 25 in favor of independence from Iraq, according to Financial Tribune.

Baghdad dismissed the vote as illegal. Iran and Turkey, which have Kurdish communities of their own, were also against the poll.

On October 25, Iran reopened Bashmakh border crossing with the Kurdistan Region. The decision came on the same day when the Kurdistan Regional Government offered to freeze the results of the referendum as a step toward resolving its disputes with Baghdad through dialogue rather than military means.

More than 54% of Iran’s exports to Iraq are carried out through Parvizkhan border crossing.