Khamenei adviser calls coordinating framework 'empty' and tells al-Zaidi: legitimacy does not come from Washington

Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader for international affairs, attacked the decision to close Iraqi airports, including Najaf airport, to Iranian flights, addressing a message to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and describing the coordinating framework as "empty" because of its silence on this decision.

Velayati wrote in a post on the social network X on Friday evening, commenting on the closure of Iraqi airports to Iranian flights, that "the enemy is trying to undermine the unity of the arenas from within to compensate for its defeat on the military field," adding that "this division manifested today in Najaf al-Ashraf, where the airport that was a gateway for devotees visiting the Commander of the Faithful was closed."

Addressing the Iraqi prime minister, he said: "Mr. al-Zaidi, legitimacy does not come from Washington, but from the land of Najaf and the blood of the martyrs."

He added that "the framework is a framework built on the trust of the resistance and the blood of the martyrs," considering that "its silence today is an empty framework on the wall of power," before asserting that "the arenas connected by blood are not undone by conspiracies."

The Supreme Leader's adviser for international affairs concluded by saying: "From Sanaa to Najaf, the resistance front is united."

The Najaf International Airport administration decided to suspend all flights arriving from and departing to Iran from 2:00 a.m. yesterday, Friday, September 25, 2026, until further notice, based on official directives from the competent authorities.

The development comes amid sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury on September 8 on 36 entities linked to Iran's aviation sector, including 27 airlines.

But the Iraqi government announced on Saturday that it is conducting direct talks with the U.S. administration to exempt some Iraqi airports from the ban on Iranian flights.