The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony issued a circular on 22 October 2026 advising Pakistani Zaireen about air travel between Iran and Iraq. The short version, in the circular's own words: verify every Iran-Iraq air sector before departure.
The circular is addressed to the chief executives of all registered Zaireen Group Operators — not to pilgrims directly. That matters for reading it correctly, and it is the useful part for you: your group operator has been given specific instructions, and you are entitled to ask what their plan is.
This page exists to tell you what the instrument says and to point you at the Ministry's own notice board. We are a Quran and Islamic content site — we do not arrange, book, file or facilitate any travel, and nothing here replaces the Ministry's instructions or your operator's.
What the instrument is
- Circular No.F.2(11)/76-Ziarat(Vol-IX)-0001, dated on its face "Islamabad, the 22nd October, 2026".
- Subject: "Advisory regarding air travel between Iran and Iraq."
- Signed by Ashar Mahmood, Section Officer (Ziarat), and issued "with the approval of the competent authority".
- Addressed to "CEOs, All Registered Zaireen Group Operators (ZGOs)", with copies to the Joint Secretary and Deputy Secretary (D&Z), the IT wing for upload to the Ministry's website, and the Media wing for publicity.
It is an advisory. It advises; it does not legislate. Nothing in it is a new rule, a ban, or a requirement that takes effect on a date.
Where the advice came from
The circular states its own chain of provenance, and it is worth quoting in full because it tells you whose judgement this is:
"The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has received an advisory from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, conveying the advice of the Embassy of Pakistan, Baghdad, regarding travel arrangements of Pakistani Zaireen travelling to Iran and Iraq."
So this is advice from Pakistan's embassy in Baghdad, relayed through the Foreign Office and passed on by the Religious Affairs Ministry to the operators it registers. It is not a finding the Religious Affairs Ministry made on its own.
What Zaireen are advised to do
The circular says that "all Zaireen travelling to Iran and Iraq, particularly those combining visits to both countries, are advised as under", and then states, in bold on the original:
"Zaireen who combine visits to Iran and Iraq, use Iranian airlines or plan onward travel between Tehran/Mashad and Najaf should be advised to verify every Iran-Iraq air sector before departure."
Three descriptions are given, and you are in scope if any of them fits your journey: you are combining visits to both countries, you are flying on Iranian airlines, or you have onward travel planned between Tehran or Mashad and Najaf. Most Pakistani ziyarat itineraries that take in both the shrines of Iran and those of Iraq will meet at least one.
Note the exact instruction: every Iran-Iraq air sector, and before departure — not the booking as a whole, and not on the day. Each individual flight leg between the two countries is to be confirmed before you set out.
What the operators — not you — have been told to do
The next paragraph is addressed to "All registered Zaireen Group Organizers (ZGOs)", and these are the operator's obligations, not the individual traveller's:
"Avoid relying on unconfirmed Iranian connections and to maintain alternative land routes or air arrangements sufficient contingency funds and accommodation plans in case of cancellations."
Read that as a list of things your operator is expected to have ready, and therefore as a list of fair questions to put to them before you pay or before you travel:
- Are any of the connections in my itinerary unconfirmed?
- What is the alternative if an Iran-Iraq sector does not operate — a land route, or a different air arrangement?
- Who carries the cost of extra nights' accommodation if we are held up?
- Have you kept contingency funds against cancellations, as the Ministry advises?
These are money questions as much as travel ones, and the circular puts them there in plain terms. For most families a ziyarat journey is the saving of years, and the paragraph above is the Ministry telling the operator to plan for a cancellation so that the cost of one does not land on the traveller at the worst moment. You are entitled to a clear answer.
The circular also tells operators to "properly brief the Zaireen travelling through their groups regarding the above advisory before commencement of their journey." If you have not been briefed, that briefing is owed to you. Asking for it is not being difficult; it is the instruction the Ministry gave.
The circular gives no reason — and neither will we
This is the part we want to be plain about. The circular says "unconfirmed Iranian connections" and "in case of cancellations", and it gives no cause at all. No reason is stated anywhere on the document.
We are not going to supply one. We have seen the instrument and nothing else, and an invented explanation for a government advisory about people's safety is worse than no explanation. If you want to know why, the honest answer is the advisory does not say. What it asks for stands on its own: confirm each sector before you go.
Where to check
The circular itself is published on the Ministry's notice board at mora.gov.pk, where it appears as a scanned image rather than text. Advisories of this kind can be updated or superseded without notice to anyone who read the earlier one, so check the board directly rather than relying on a summary — including this one.
For the confirmation itself, the circular's instruction points at the sectors in your own ticket. Your operator, and the airline operating each Iran-Iraq leg, are who can confirm them.
A note for those travelling
Ziyarat of the blessed shrines is a journey undertaken with love and longing, and the Awliya and the Ahl al-Bayt (رضی اللہ عنہم) are visited by believers in every generation. Nothing in a travel advisory touches that. Taking means and precautions is part of tawakkul, not a departure from it — the Prophet ﷺ taught that one ties the camel and then trusts in Allah (Tirmidhi). Confirming your flights is exactly that: tying the camel.
May Allah ﷻ make the journey easy for every zair who sets out, accept their ziyarat, and return them safely to their families.
Source: Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Government of Pakistan — Circular No.F.2(11)/76-Ziarat(Vol-IX)-0001, dated 22 October 2026, read from the Ministry's published scan on 23 October 2026. Quotations are from that document. This page is informational and is not travel advice.