Al-Zaidi orders audit after Maysan council sets three-day deadline

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi ordered a financial investigation into the Maysan Provincial Council on Monday. The move follows a three-day deadline set by council chairman Mustafa Da'ir to reopen the al-Shib border crossing with Iran.

Da'ir warned of civil disobedience if Baghdad did not act within that window. He stated he would cut the province off from the rest of the country. The deadline expires this week, marking the first formal escalation in the dispute over the site's closure.

The government shut the crossing last week. An Iraqi official told Reuters on Wednesday that the halt allows for upgrades to security and detection equipment. Lawmaker Salwan Taha Akreyi offered a different rationale. He told Kurdistan24 that Washington requested the closure to limit transit to and from Iran and block Tehran's efforts to strengthen its militias in Iraq.

Protesters blocked roads leading to regional oil companies to voice opposition. The Badr bloc, a Shiite Islamist group, rejected the prime minister's call for an audit. Shafaq News reported that Badr argued the closure hurts the local economy. The group also urged the government to target smuggling through unofficial crossings in the Kurdistan region.

The dispute occurs as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz forces Iran to rely on land routes through Iraq and Pakistan. Tehran condemned the al-Shib shutdown. It rejected allegations that the crossing was used to traffic drugs and counterfeit currency.