Ahead of Holy Arbaeen, Iranian pilgrims now can come to Iraq by boats

The Iraqi Ministry of Transport revealed on Tuesday that preparations are underway for launching the first river trips between Iran and Iraq before the Holy Arbaeen Pilgrimage.

Meitham Al-Safi, the ministry’s media director, stated that “the ministry has completed the procedures to provide tourist boats and prepare the river docks in Basra to launch the first trips before the upcoming Arbaeen pilgrimage.”

Al-Safi noted that “the Iranian side has completed all steps to activate the river routes towards Iraq to ensure mutual maritime transport between the two countries.”

He explained that earlier this year, an agreement was signed with a specialized Bahraini company to build 30 new tourist boats of various sizes to activate the river taxi project in Baghdad and the provinces, as well as maritime transport with regional countries.

The official also pointed out that next year will see the construction of 8 giant commercial ships, along with the purchase of 2 ships, making a total of 10 new ships.

According to Al-Sabah newspaper, these ships will be added to the ministry’s fleet, which currently consists of 6 ships of various sizes, bringing the total number to 16.