Arbaeen pilgrimage guide

Arbaeen is handled as its own season: the railway runs a separate Arbaeen presale, airlines sell capped Arbaeen fares, and the exit tax has a free window. All of this is keyed to registration in the Samah system.

The exit-tax exemption only applies when it is approved for that year, you are registered in Samah inside the announced window, and you leave through the designated borders.

Precedent: in 1400 the CAO said Arbaeen tickets bought without a confirmed visa (SAMA registration) would be cancelled under foreign-flight rules.

Married women need their husband's consent to leave Iran and under-18s need their legal guardian's consent; the passport police chief confirmed this on 20 Tir 1405. Consent registered for unlimited repeat exits stays valid until revoked.

Conscription-age men normally need an exit permit and bail. In 1405 a bail-free Arbaeen window ran 26 Khordad to 22 Mordad through the Sakha system for students, seminary students, holders of a ready-for-service card and committed government employees. Absentee conscripts must first settle their status. That window has closed; watch for a 1406 announcement.

In Arbaeen 1404 about 425,000 pilgrims travelled by train, rail capacity was raised 15%, an extra Kerman–Khorramshahr train ran, and two new tracks plus a platform opened at the Shalamcheh border station on 7 Mordad 1404.

For 1405 the railway announced a presale for 1–15 Mordad travel together with Arbaeen trains from 29 Tir 1405. The article with destinations and train counts could not be read, so those details are unconfirmed.

A weekly Tehran–Karbala rail-bus-rail service (Iranian train to Shalamcheh, customs, bus to Basra, Iraqi train Basra–Karbala, Saturdays) was announced in August 2024. Its 2026 status is unconfirmed: Safarmarket wrote in Dey 1404 that the current rail option to Iraq is train to Kermanshah then bus to the Khosravi border, and that the Shalamcheh–Basra rail link was still unfinished.

Inside Iraq, the Baghdad–Basra overnight train resumed on 7 August 2026 after being suspended for Arbaeen and maintenance; Iraqi rail tickets are sold at stations only.

Arbaeen 1405 flights: sales opened 31 Tir 1405 for travel between 1 and 16 Mordad. Capped round-trip fares were 24 million toman from Tehran and western airports and 28 million from Mashhad and eastern airports to Najaf or Baghdad. Sales were allowed only on airline sites and authorised online platforms, group sales of more than 9 people were banned, adult and child fares were the same and any surcharge was prohibited.

Fars reported that many tickets were still sold above the cap, with Najaf round trips quoted up to about 200 million toman on some sites; that report was not verified.

Outside the Arbaeen window, Najaf is one of the few international routes still running: Iraqi Airways flies Najaf–Tehran daily since 8 October 2026 and Iran Air serves Najaf.

For buses, each cooperative sets its own refund penalties. Online refunds generally close 60 minutes before departure (90 to 120 minutes in some cases); after that you must go to the terminal, and printed or rescheduled tickets cannot be refunded online.

Pilgrims to the shrines in Iraq pay a flat exit fee of 90,000 toman by air or 30,000 toman by land or sea in 1405 (up from 60,000 and 20,000). It does not rise with the number of trips.

During the approved Arbaeen window (16 Tir to 16 Mordad in 1405) exit was free for pilgrims registered in Samah who leave through the designated borders.

The exit fee is paid per person, including infants, against each traveller's national ID, through Sadad, the Eva and Bale apps, cashless kiosks at airports and borders, or Bank Melli border branches.

A pilgrimage (Karbala) passport cost about 115,000 to 315,000 toman in Shahrivar 1405 versus about 2.2 million for a standard passport, per a secondary source. The passport police said valid pilgrimage passports from earlier years can be reused.

Sources conflict. Wikipedia's 2026 table lists Iranians as visa-free for 30 days (15 days in the Kurdistan Region), but the same page elsewhere lists Iraqi Kurdistan as a 30-day e-visa, and 2025–2026 reports disagree. Arbaeen pilgrims have historically needed a visa.

In 1400 the CAO required a confirmed visa (SAMA registration) before an Arbaeen ticket was valid. Treat Iraq as 'check the current rule' every season.

The passport police chief advised Arbaeen 1405 travellers to make sure their Iraqi entry stamp is recorded and, if it is not, to ask the Iraqi passport police on the spot.

Iranian bank cards work only on the domestic Shetab network, so plan on cash for Iraq; our sources describe this as almost certainly still true in 2026 but did not re-verify it.

Iraqi train tickets are sold at the station on the day, paid in cash or by Mastercard; Baghdad–Basra fares were 10,000 to 37,000 dinars in April 2026 and bags are checked an hour before departure.

Pay the Iranian exit fee before you reach the border; the receipt is tied to your national code and a cancelled trip does not refund it automatically.

We have not yet verified SIM-card or eSIM options for Iraq; ask your caravan or check at the border rather than relying on this page.

Every traveller, including newborns, needs their own passport. Carry the Samah registration, the exit-fee receipt and, for conscription-age men, the exit permit.

Since the 2026 conflict, Iranian airspace and land borders can close at short notice and infrastructure including railways has been hit; both Tehran airports stopped all flights for 24 hours on 15–16 Tir 1405. Check route status the day before you leave.

What is sold in Iran as 'domestic travel insurance' is in practice personal or group accident cover (typically groups of at least 10, ages under 80, trips of 1 to 30 days), not full travel insurance. Ask your caravan what cover it carries for Iraq.

Absentee conscripts cannot use the bail-free Arbaeen exit until they settle their status with the Conscription Organization.

Iranian train tickets are not open all year. Each month, and Nowruz and Arbaeen separately, has its own presale that is usually announced 1 to 3 days ahead and opens a few days before travel starts.

Release is staggered: 08:30 to 11:00 online only through authorised platforms, 11:00 to 13:30 in person at authorised offices from remaining stock, and from 14:00 all channels together.

In 1405 the Arbaeen presale was announced together with 1–15 Mordad travel, starting 29 Tir 1405. Expect a similar announcement in Tir 1406, but no date has been published.

Presale sellers listed by Alibaba include Raja, Fadak, Safir, Jopar, Ghazal, Pardis and Bon Rail. Fadak offers an SMS alert for its next presale; Parvazyar's presale alert covers the railway-wide announcement.