MASHHAD, Khorasan Province Over half-a-million foreign pilgrims visit this northeastern Iranian province every year, Qorban Seifi, provincial representative in the Foreign Ministry said here Sunday.

The holy city of Mashhad is home to the tomb of Imam Reza (AS), the eight (Shia) Imam of the household of Prophet Mohammad (S). Iran has banned its nationals from traveling to Iraq via third countries amid Syrian efforts to attract Iranian pilgrims eager to visit Iraq's holy shrines.

Iran's Pilgrimage Organization said last week that Iranians making such visits might encounter problems upon return home, and that travels via a third country were "unauthorized."

Under a 1998 agreement between Baghdad and Tehran, some 3,000 Iranian pilgrims visit Iraq each week in trips organized by officially recognized Iraqi and Iranian tour and travel agencies.

(IRNA)