Iraq will reopen the Sheeb border crossing with Iran on Tuesday morning after completing technical requirements and necessary procedures, the head of the country's Border Ports Authority has said. The Mandali crossing with Iran will close temporarily from Friday for similar work.

Maj. Gen. Omar al-Waeli, head of the Border Ports Authority, said in a statement carried by the state news agency INA that Sheeb would reopen at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, 10 November, nearly three weeks after the government shut it.

The Mandali crossing in Diyala province will close at 8 a.m. on Friday, 13 November, for maintenance and other technical work, al-Waeli said. A date for reopening Mandali will be announced once the work is finished.

A key trade route for both countries

Sheeb, known as al-Sheib in Iraq and Chazabeh on the Iranian side, sits in eastern Maysan province and is one of the main routes for trade and passengers between the two countries. The government closed it in late October to review security and install detection equipment to stop smuggling.

The closure hit livelihoods in Maysan province, where drivers, border workers and local residents staged protests demanding the crossing be reopened. Demonstrators said the shutdown had caused mounting economic losses and threatened trade in the area, although cargo could be diverted through other crossings, including Shalamcheh, Zurbatiyah-Mehran, Mandali-Khosravi, Somar, Bashmaq and Parviz Khan.

Iraq's government spokesman had earlier attributed the closure to a lack of technical readiness, saying commercial exchanges with Iran continued through other border crossings. The Prime Minister's Office also rejected reports that the decision had been made at Washington's request, describing it as based on regulatory and administrative considerations.

Pressure from Washington over border crossings

The reopening comes as Baghdad faces pressure from the United States over its border with Iran. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the US Treasury had asked Baghdad to close all border crossings with Iran except for two, as part of Washington's efforts to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

'There are many official and unofficial border crossings with Iran, and closing all of them would be difficult and would affect our economy. The Americans are still demanding the closure of the crossings, and we are currently in discussions with them,' Hussein told Al Jazeera.

It was not immediately clear whether the planned reopening of Sheeb or the temporary closure of Mandali was related to the US request. The United States has suggested keeping one crossing open in the Kurdistan region and one in the rest of Iraq.

The developments are part of a wider confrontation over Iran, with the US maintaining a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and pushing to restrict Tehran's overland trade. Iraq has sought to balance its close economic ties with Iran against pressure from Washington, its security partner.