Iraq says Iran stops Russian food flight

Iraq says Iran has prevented a Russian plane from delivering food and medical aid to Baghdad.

A spokesman said the Iranian authorities had stopped it entering Iraqi airspace from Iran.

The plane had been chartered by the party of the Russian nationalist politican Vladimir Zhirinovsky: a party spokesman is quoted as saying the plane was now on the ground somewhere in Iran.

There's been no comment from Teheran.

Iraq has been under United Nations sanctions since it invaded Kuwait in 1990, and aircraft need UN authorisation to land there.

Iraq complains that the sanctions have left its people hungry and ill.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service