Iraq closed three border crossings with Iran on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, and security sources said drone launchers were found near the frontier in Maysan province — the latest Baghdad move after both Riyadh and Baghdad said drones that struck Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline were launched from Iraqi territory, Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera reported, citing AFP and Iraqi sources.

The closed posts are Shalamcheh (also spelled Shalamsheh) in Basra province, al-Shib in Maysan (Missan), and al-Mandali (Mandali) in Diyala, Al Jazeera’s Jack Hewson reported from Baghdad and Iraqi security sources told AFP. Other Iraq–Iran crossings remained open, AFP said. Sources could not say when the three would reopen.

Two Iraqi security sources told AFP that drone launchers were found near a border crossing in Maysan. A security official said forces found launchers near the Iraq–Iran border in the al-Tib / al-Tayyib region — a remote part of Maysan close to the al-Shib crossing — and a second security source gave the same account, Al Arabiya reported with AFP. Al Jazeera said a search operation was under way in that border area.

An Iraqi security source told AFP the closure decision was “part of an intelligence effort to track down the perpetrators and prevent their escape… and to hinder the smuggling of drones through these crossings.” Iraq’s security media cell said authorities had started “administrative and security reorganisation operations at several border crossings” and stepped up intelligence work to determine “breaches and violations” there; passengers stranded for hours at two crossings were later allowed to pass, AFP reported via Iraqi News.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had already dismissed the military commander in Maysan after authorities determined the drones were launched from that province, and ordered an investigation into the operations command there — a step Insanity Developing covered earlier. The Associated Press, in a Saturday wire carried by ABC News, said his office later also dismissed the provincial police chief as Baghdad raced to contain the fallout.

Armed-forces spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said Saturday that Zaidi had approved “Iran’s request to conduct a joint investigation into finding drone launch platforms near the Iraq–Iran border,” Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera reported. The statement did not detail how many platforms were found or exact coordinates.

No group has claimed the pipeline attack. An alliance of Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups operating under the Islamic Resistance in Iraq umbrella said they had not struck the line. “Accusations against the Iraqi resistance regarding the targeting of vital Saudi installations on Friday are an honour that we do not claim,” they said in a statement quoted by AFP via Iraqi News. Riyadh has previously accused Iran-linked groups in Iraq of hitting its oil infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia said Friday it temporarily shut the East-West (Petroline) corridor as a precaution after Thursday drone strikes in the Riyadh and Medina regions that it said came from Iraq, causing injuries and damage, and that it would hold off retaliation to give Baghdad “an opportunity to take the necessary measures,” the AP reported. The line has been Riyadh’s main Hormuz bypass while the Iran war keeps Gulf loadings constrained — concentrating that much crude on one overland route turns every ungoverned launch site in Iraq into a price and security problem.

Under U.S. pressure, Zaidi has pledged that armed factions will surrender weapons to the state, with a Sept. 30 deadline for nonstate groups to disarm cited by the AP; several powerful militias have refused. When proxy networks can launch drones from Iraqi soil and Baghdad’s first levers are a commander’s firing and temporary border locks, the story is less about one pipeline night than about who actually controls the frontier.

Dated Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026: three crossings closed, launchers reported near al-Tayyib, a joint Iraq–Iran probe approved — and the East-West line still shut as a precaution while no group claims the drones.

Sources