Shafaq News– Al-Sulaymaniyah

Low passenger demand prompted the temporary suspension of some flights from the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Al-Sulaymaniyah airports to Tehran, not security concerns linked to unrest in Iran, a source said on Tuesday.

The source told Shafaq News that the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority took the decision after a drop in travelers to the Iranian capital, dismissing local media reports that linked the move to protests or security developments in Iran.

The clarification comes as Iran faces nationwide protests since late December 2025, driven by economic pressures and a sharp collapse of the rial, which has fallen on the black market to about 1.456 million per US dollar. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported at least 646 deaths and more than 10,700 arrests since the unrest began, while Iranian authorities have not released official casualty figures.

In a separate toll, an Iranian official told Reuters that around 2,000 people died during the demonstrations, blaming “terrorists” for the deaths of civilians and security personnel.

Read more: Iran’s protests between economic crisis and political contestation