New road opened between Iran and Iraq

The Iranian daily Keyan on Monday said that a border road between Iran and Iraq was opened before the traffic, a matter which would enable Iranian pilgrimages to visit the Shiite holy shrines in Iraq "shortly."

The Iranian paper quoted an official at the Iranian Ministry of the Interior in Kermanshah city in a border province with Iraq "that this border road which allows access to Karbalaa (in Iraq) is open, adding a group of pilgrimage will shortly head for the Shiite holy shrines in Iraq. He indicated "an accord between Iranian and Iraqi companies to transfer the Iranian pilgrimages."

The Iranian official gave no date for opening the road and did not say if land borders between the two countries are open with no restrictions following 10 years after the end of the Iraqi - Iranian war (1980-1988).