Iraq PM visits Japan after Iran bars plane

By Hugh Lawson

TOKYO (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has arrived in Japan after a marathon journey during which Iran refused to allow his plane to cross its air space.

Maliki's plane landed at 11:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. British time) on Sunday, an official at Haneda airport in Tokyo said, after an unplanned stop in Dubai and another break in Bangkok.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser who is accompanying Maliki on a trip to Japan and South Korea, said the Iranian aviation authorities had ordered the plane to turn back after it entered Iranian air space at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.

"We were obliged to fly to Dubai where we stayed for more than three hours to file a new (flight) plan," Rikabi said by telephone from Bangkok before the plane departed for Tokyo.

Rikabi said it was unclear why Iran had barred Maliki's plane from crossing its territory.

Asked about the reports, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini implied Maliki's plane may have faced an issue over permission to fly across Iran but said it was not an unusual problem.

"Permission for Maliki's flight is a normal issue. All flights need permission," he told a weekly news conference in Tehran, without giving further details.

Iraq's U.S.-backed government has often had to tread a delicate path in trying to maintain good relations with both Iran, its neighbour to the east, and the United States.