Alwaght-A high ranking Iranian official says the divisive referendum on independence of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region is a new US-Israeli plot in the West Asia region.
“After the defeat of ISIS [terrorist group] in Syria and Iraq, Kurdistan’s referendum will result in escalation of tensions and crisis in the region,” Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, said on Monday.
Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region held an independence referendum on Monday in defiance of strong objections from the central government in Baghdad, neighboring countries and the UN.
The high-ranking Iranian official added that even if the Kurdish people voted “yes” for the independence of the region, Iraq’s central government, parliament and military forces would not accept the result.
Rahim Safavi emphasized that Iran had expressed its objection to the plebiscite by closing its airspace to all flights to and from the Kurdish region in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani held separate phone calls with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his Turkish and Russian counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin respectively, over the past two days to discuss the independence vote. All the leaders expressed their opposition to the plebiscite, saying that they support Iraq’s territorial integrity and national unity.
