Shafaq News- Tehran

More than 20,000 people cross the Shalamcheh border between Iran and Iraq daily, with passenger and commercial traffic operating around the clock, Khuzestan Deputy Governor for Security and Law Enforcement Valiollah Hayati said.

In a statement carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency on Thursday, Hayati outlined plans to relocate customs procedures to the main Arbaeen parking area starting next week to ease truck congestion and facilitate exports, while confirming that passenger traffic and passport control remain unaffected.

Located about 15 kilometers west of Khorramshahr in Iran’s Khuzestan province and 20 kilometers east of Basra, Shalamcheh is a major crossing for trade and religious pilgrimage, serving as one of several entry points through which more than 3.33 million Iranian pilgrims traveled to Iraq for Arbaeen*, according to figures released on August 4 by Iran’s Central Arbaeen Committee chief Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian.

Iraq and Iran are developing a 36-kilometer railway linking Basra to Shalamcheh, approximately 70% complete as of September, with additional plans for a free-trade zone and industrial facilities. Bilateral trade exceeded $10 billion in 2025, largely driven by Iranian exports, while the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce projected in September 2026 that the figure could double if trade barriers were eased.

Read more: Faith and finances: Religious tourism fuels Iraq’s economy

*Arbaeen, observed 40 days after Ashura, commemorates Imam Hussein bin Ali, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and third Shia Imam, who was killed alongside relatives and companions in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.