Iran reopens borders with Iraq as clashes halt in Arab country

Iran closed its borders with neighboring Iraq and halted flights to the country as clashes erupted protests in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Iranian state television then quoted an Iranian official as announcing that "as security and calm have been restored in Iraq, all borders are open now".

The violence erupted after Iraqi Shia cleric and political candidate, Muqtada Al-Sadr, announced his resignation from politics, ten months after his party won the largest share of seats in parliamentary elections, though not enough to secure a majority government.

In a televised address however, Sadr called on his supporters to end the violence within an hour and withdraw from the Green Zone saying, "this is not a revolution [anymore] because it has lost its peaceful character. The spilling of Iraqi blood is forbidden".

The cleric warned his supporters that he will leave even the Movement if they do not withdraw from the sit-in at parliament "within 60 minutes.”

His supporters were afterwards seen leaving the zone and refraining from the clashes, prompting the Iraqi military to lift its nationwide curfew that it had imposed.

Iranian state television quoted top official announcing that all borders are open as security and calm have been restored in Iraq.