Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports on Monday after the ninth sandstorm since mid-April.
More than 1,000 people were hospitalised with respiratory problems, according to the health ministry. For a second time this month, flights were grounded in neighbouring Kuwait. The second heavy sandstorm in less than a week also descended on Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh.
Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, was enveloped in dust cloud with mostly traffic-choked streets largely deserted and bathed in orange light. Shepherds also found themselves shrouded in dust south of the capital, near the Shia shrine city of Najaf.
The prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhemi, ordered all work to cease in state-run institutions except for health and security services, citing poor climatic conditions and the arrival of violent sandstorms. Air traffic was suspended at the international airports in Baghdad, Arbil and Najaf, before flights resumed in the capital and Arbil.
According to the state news agency INA, Arbil s airport was closed on Monday night due to thick dust.
Iraq is one of the five most vulnerable countries in the world to be affected by climate change and desertification.
The environment ministry said over the next two decades, Iraq could endure an average of 272 days of sandstorms a year, rising to above 300 by the year 2050.
Iraq s previous two sandstorms sent nearly 10,000 people to the hospital with respiratory problems and killed one person.