A spokesman says Iraqi leaders have told Iran it cannot ship weapons to Syria through Iraq. Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh Saturday said the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad has been warned against shipping arms through Iraq's borders or airspace. Neither Al-Dabbagh nor Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki have said whether Iranian flights are being forced to land for inspection. Iraq's air force only has a handful of planes and helicopters, and no ability to control its own airspace. Al-Maliki said Friday that measures were being taken to ensure that shipments to Syria only contain humanitarian aid. The UN has banned Iranian arms exports. The US State Department fears that Iran is aiding the regime of ally President Bashar Assad with weapons. Meanwhile, Iraq has come forward to offer “substantial quantities” of crude oil to Sri Lanka, as the island desperately looks for alternatives to Iranian crude, a news report said Sunday. Iran supplies nearly 92 percent of Sri Lanka's imported crude. But supplies have hit a snag in the face of US-led sanctions aimed at spurring Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.
