🖊Said Jaafari, journalist.
The plane carrying the Iranian team had to return to Iran on November 10, 2026, after Iraq refused to allow it to land in Basra.
Airport officials said Baghdad did not want to violate US sanctions against Iranian airlines by accepting the flight. In the end, the players were supposed to continue traveling overland, the same routes that Washington is currently operating as part of a new strategy to limit their use for transporting military equipment and sanctions goods.
This was related to the US aviation sanctions, but at the same time, the US government expanded the scope of pressure on Iran by establishing a working group known as "Iron Gate". The stated goal of the plan is to limit the transfer of weapons, dual-use technologies, sanctioned goods and financial resources through land routes and the Caspian Sea.
However, the central question remains: to what extent is the United States capable of disrupting these trajectories, and what picture do similar experiences paint about the chances of such a strategy succeeding?
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📷 Getty Images.