Hadi al-Ameri, secretary-general of the Badr Organization, condemned the US blockade on Iran on Saturday, telling Al Mayadeen it is "immoral, inhumane and illegal."

The measures, he said, harm both the Iraqi and Iranian peoples. Al-Ameri recalled that when ISIS overran swathes of Iraqi territory, every foreign airline halted its flights to the country, while Iranian aircraft kept arriving with weapons and supplies for Iraqis.

Speaking on Saturday at a gathering in Baghdad's Tahrir Square marking two years since the martyrdom of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, Al-Ameri also urged the Iraqi government to reject the decision, saying that doing so would be "the first test of full sovereignty." He called on Baghdad to heed the will of its people and reverse course.

Turning to the wider confrontation, he said Hezbollah's steadfastness proves that "the blood of the martyrs brings victory and reinforces the pillars of resistance."

The assassination of leaders in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, he added, will not tip the balance against the Resistance in its confrontation with "Israel," and has only deepened the occupation's international isolation.

Iraqi factions push back

Sheikh Haider al-Gharawi, secretary-general of Iraq's Ansar Allah al-Awfiya movement, strictly rejected Washington's directives. "Iraq is not a US state, and its airports do not belong to the US Treasury," he said, adding that "Iraq does not need anyone's exemption to make its own decisions."

Abu Alaa al-Walaei, secretary-general of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, said Iraq cannot be party to the siege on Iran, and called on parliament to force the government to reject US orders, as Moscow and Beijing have done.

Baghdad seeks US exemptions

Earlier on Saturday, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said Baghdad was in direct talks with Washington to obtain exemptions for some Iraqi airports from US Treasury measures affecting Iranian flights.

The office said the request seeks authorization to resume flights for humanitarian purposes, including medical treatment, education, and other essential needs.

Several Iraqi officials and factions have likewise condemned the closure of the country's airports to Iranian flights, urging the government to reverse the decision and reject US diktats.

The developments come after several governments in the region and beyond announced they would comply with new US sanctions on Iranian aviation. On September 8, the US Treasury sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines as part of a campaign to cut Iran's aviation sector off from the global financial system.