Al-Sarkhi has previously declared his sympathy for Iraq’s Sunni Muslims, describing the current situation as a revolution rather than a takeover by foreigners – and by this, he seems to mean that he thinks the Islamic State group is a home grown Iraqi one.
All of the above saw Iranian authorities ban pilgrimages to Karbala that took a cross-country route. From June, only flights between Iran and Najaf airport were secure, they said.
The decision doesn’t involve a complete ban on visiting Iraq but it certainly limits numbers.
As Ali Mahrabani, a recent visitor to Karbala from Iran, says, “most Iranians cannot afford the expense of air travel”.
A flight from Tehran to Najaf costs from between US$150 to US$500. Land travel costs a lot less.
“Anyway when people from outside of Iraq hear this kind of news on their TVs, they will definitely not want to visit the country,” suggests Jawad Tahseen, another Karbala hotel owner. “People will think every part of Iraq is in turmoil.”
There are an estimated 400 hotels in Karbala and many of them are relatively new; they employ thousands of people. However jobs are now becoming scarcer.
Local man Ahmed al-Hilali is one of those affected. A week ago he and five of his colleagues were made redundant because of the decline in their employer’s hotel’s revenues.
Al-Hilali used to support his family of four with a salary of IQD350,000 (around US$224) but now they have no income whatsoever. Al-Hilali is searching for a job in a local restaurant. And he doesn’t blame his boss for his desperate straits. “The hotel’s revenues have fallen steeply,” he says. “He can’t just pay us for doing nothing.”
Restaurant work is more tiring and stressful, especially because most of the hotels are air conditioned, al-Hilali says, and he holds out hopes that he may be able to return to the hotel business once tourism picks up again.
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