Iran to lift border closures with Iraq's Kurdish region

Iranian army tanks near Iraq-Iran border gate in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq on 3 October 2017 [Feriq Fereç/Anadolu Agency]

Iran will lift border restrictions with Iraq’s Kurdistan region “in the coming days following a closure after last month’s Kurdish vote in favour of independence, the Iranian armed forces chief of staff said.

In remarks quoted by ISNA news agency yesterday, Major General Mohammad Baqeri also said if Kurdistan implemented its plan to break away from Iraq, “there would be bloodshed in Iraq and neighbouring countries would be affected”.

Kurdistan’s president said yesterday he would resign after the independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered military and economic retaliation by the Iraqi government.

Read: Kurdish President rejects conditional dialogue with Baghdad

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