Bahram Qasemi responded to a question regarding Anadolu Agency claiming that Iraqi security forces should prevent from entering a thousand of Iranian pilgrims within 24 hours due to fake visas. He said there are no definite statistics in this regard, but the announced figures by some foreign media is false. All affairs are under the control of the Arbaeen headquarters, with the presence of representatives and the cooperation of all relevant organizations, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Of course, as you read in news, a few offenders who had issued a false visa for Arbaeen were arrested by the police. Accordingly, a limited number of fake visas may be issued to applicants, but the number is unclear”, he stated.

“Some Iranian people were returned by the Iraqi border police claiming that they had a false passport”, he stressed, adding that after the arrival of these people to the country it was determined that they did not have fake visas and the lack of adequate knowledge of police in some Iraqi border areas may have led to misunderstandings that mistakenly identified fake visas.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said “At last, for those Iranian pilgrims who returned to Iran due to an invalid visa or a mistake made by the Iraqi border police, visas were issued in Iran and they entered Iraq.

“Up to today, about 900,000 Iranian visa applications have been issued”, Qasemi stressed, adding that about one million and eight hundred thousand people have already enrolled to go to Iraq and get visas. Most likely, the number of sign-ups will increase. It is predicted that the number of Iranian applicants on Arbaeen’s walking in Iraq could rise to two million or more.

“We  hope that Iraqi officials, especially the border guards and the police, face Iranians with precision and responsibility in order to ensure that they hold a valid visa and prevent returning them mistakenly. Otherwise, they will have to re-apply for a visa which has a difficult process,” the spokesperson added.