Dallas Seavey, the four-time Iditarod champion who skipped last year's race after being accused in a dog-doping scandal, will race again this year in Norway even though he has been cleared of any wrongdoing by officials in the Alaska race.
Seavey said Friday that he plans to compete in the Finnmarkslopet race in Norway, which starts about a week after the Iditarod, considered the world's most famous sled dog race. The Iditarod begins March 3.
After the 2017 race, in which Seavey placed second, race officials said some dogs on his team tested positive for an opioid painkiller. They said they could not prove he gave the drug tramadol to his dogs and didn't punish him.
Seavey adamantly denied giving his dogs drugs and sat out the 2018 race in protest, opting to race in Norway instead.
This past year, after four new board members were installed on the race's governing body, the Iditarod Trail Committee, the board cleared Seavey of any wrongdoing.
"After several meetings with Dallas Seavey, and review of all relevant information and evidence, the board does not believe that Dallas had any involvement with, or knowledge of, the events that led to the positive test in his team," a December release said. "The ITC concludes that it is not credible that Dallas was involved, and he is found to have committed no wrong doing. Whatever happened was completely beyond his control."
Seavey told The Associated Press on Friday that no one should interpret this as him having hard feelings against the Iditarod. Instead, he has unfinished business in Norway, where he came in third last year.
"It's a puzzle I haven't yet figured out, and I want to go back over there and give it another run," he said. "I feel like I'm much better prepared now to set my team up for success on the race, knowing what the race is like."
The 31-year-old Seavey said he has been around the Iditarod since he was 5 years old, and his family's history with the race traces back to his grandfather, Dan Seavey, who ran the first two races in 1973 and 1974.
"I'll be back to the Iditarod," he said, describing the draw of the Finnmarkslopet this year as "an exciting adventure."
Chas St. George, the interim head of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, said he believes the decision to run in Norway was the right one for Seavey. Besides the Iditarod, Seavey has also won the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race between Canada and Alaska.
"He is a competitor, and I'm sure he would like to be the first to win all three," St. George said in an email.
Seavey said he doesn't have a major sponsor, and the only hitch in this plan would be funding. The Alaska man needs to raise about $25,000 for training and travel costs associated with getting himself and at least 14 dogs to Norway and back.
He also needs to offset the lower prize money in Norway. Last year, he said, he collected about $5,000 for finishing third. By contrast, Dallas' father, Mitch Seavey, picked up just over $39,000 for placing third in last year's Iditarod. Norwegian Joar Ulsom collected about $50,000 and a new pickup for winning his first Iditarod.
Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod, the annual thousand-mile race between the Anchorage area and Nome, in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday as tensions remained high with the United States over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
The closure ran for over four hours, according to pilot guidance issued by Iran, which lies on a key East-West flight route. International carriers diverted north and south around Iran, but after one extension, the closure appeared to have expired and several domestic flights were in the air just after 7 a.m.
Around midday, Iranian state television carried a statement from the country's Civil Aviation Authority saying that the nation's “skies are hosting incoming and outgoing flights, and airports are providing services to passengers.” It did not acknowledge the closure.
Iran previously shut its airspace during the 12-day war against Israel in June and when it exchanged fire with Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. However, there were no signs of current hostilities though the closure immediately rippled through global aviation.
“Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said the website SafeAirspace, which provides information on conflict areas and air travel. “The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defense, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.”
Iran in the past has misidentified a commercial aircraft as a hostile target. In 2020, Iranian air defense shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 with two surface-to-air missiles, killing all 176 people on board. Iran for days adamantly dismissed allegations of downing the plane as Western propaganda before finally acknowledging it.
The airspace closure came as some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” going to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Iran at the request of the United States on Thursday afternoon.
U.S. President Donald Trump made a series of vague statements Wednesday that left unclear what American action, if any, would take place against Iran.
In comments to reporters, Trump said he had been told that plans for executions in Iran have stopped, without providing many details. The shift comes a day after Trump told protesters in Iran that “help is on the way” and that his administration would “act accordingly” to respond to the Islamic Republic’s deadly crackdown.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also sought to tone down the rhetoric, urging the U.S. to find a solution through negotiation.
Asked by Fox News what he would say to Trump, Araghchi said: “My message is: Between war and diplomacy, diplomacy is a better way, although we don’t have any positive experience from the United States. But still diplomacy is much better than war.”
The change in tone by the U.S. and Iran came hours after the chief of the Iranian judiciary said the government must act quickly to punish the thousands who have been detained.
Activists warned that hangings of detainees could come soon. The security forces’ crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Demonstrators burn a poster depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, in Holon, Israel Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A woman mourns next to the flag-draped coffins of a group of security forces, who were killed during anti-government protests, during their funeral ceremony, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man hands out posters of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a funeral ceremony for a group of security forces, who were killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People take part in a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, Berlin Germany, Wednesday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Policemen protect the British Embassy during a protest by hardline supporters of the Iranian government, as people ride on their motorbike in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
