BAGHDAD -- A U.S. envoy secretly pressured Iraq’s government to close its airspace and land border crossings with Iran, an Iraqi parliament member has revealed, as popular and political demands for reopening the crossings persist despite Washington’s push to tighten its economic squeeze on Tehran.
Abdullah al-Dulaimi, a member of the Anbar Alliance, said Tom Barrack, the U.S. president’s envoy, made the request during a visit to Baghdad without prior public announcement, the Iraqi news agency Al-Maalomah reported Sunday. 
Barrack asked Baghdad to close its airspace to all flights and take similar measures against land and sea crossings with Iran, and to settle Iraq’s debts to Iran in Iraqi dinars rather than dollars.
The report said Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government has agreed to the measures despite awareness of their impact on Iraq’s economy, particularly the market’s reliance on Iranian goods.  
The pressure campaign comes amid broader U.S. efforts to sever Iran’s overland trade routes after imposing a naval blockade and cutting air links. 
The New York Times reported last week that Washington had for weeks pressed Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan to close their border crossings with Iran, but the three neighbors resisted, viewing the demands as harmful to their own interests.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in an interview with AFP published late last week that Baghdad has not implemented the U.S. request. 
“We cannot close our borders with Iran,” Hussein said. “Implementing this demand would be a kind of sanction against the Iraqi people. Until now, we have not implemented it.