Iran denies reports it has closed border to northern Iraq
(VOVWORLD) -Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday denied reports that it closed a border crossing with northern Iraq in response to an independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdish region last month.
 Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi (Photo: VNA) |
The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying that Iran blocked its airspace to the Kurdish region on a request from the central government of Iraq and that nothing new has happened in this area.
Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq after the independence referendum by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Neighboring Iran, Turkey and Syria where large populations of Kurdish people are living have been worried that the Kurdish referendum might threaten their sovereignty.