Iraq has informed Iran that it will not permit arms shipments to Syria to pass through or over its territory, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Saturday.

Iraq has informed Iran that it will not permit arms shipments to Syria to pass through or over its territory, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Saturday.

Baghdad informed Tehran through the Iranian ambassador "that Iraq will not permit the use of its air space or its territory for the transit of any arms cargo to Syria," Dabbagh said in a statement.

"Neither cargo of arms nor munitions coming from any party or country will pass the air space or borders of Iraq and no combatant from any side will have the right of passage to Syria," he added.

On Friday, the United States said it was concerned about Iranian aid cargo flights over Iraq to Syria, saying it has warned Iraq they might contain arms that could be used by Damascus to crush protests.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki insisted Friday that all items transported through Iraq to Syria were humanitarian goods, after a US newspaper reported Iran was moving weapons to Syria via Iraqi air space.

"Iraq does not allow its land or its skies to be a passage for weapons in any direction, and from any source," Maliki said in a statement released by his office.

He said shipments going through Iraq were "only carrying humanitarian goods, not weapons."