iran, Iraq To Hold Drills After Kurds Choose Independence
Iran and Iraq are to hold joint military exercises near Kurdish territory following the independence vote, Iran's state television reports. Turkey has also threatened a series of measures to punish Iraqi Kurds.
30.09.2017
On Saturday, military spokesman General Masoud Jazayeri told Iranian state television that commanders have decided to hold joint war games with Iraq. They also "agreed on measures to establish border security and receive Iraqi forces that are to be stationed at border posts," Jazayeri said.
Since Kurds in northern Iraq voted for independence on Monday, Iran has closed its borders to the autonomous territory, stopped flights to regional airports and banned transportation of refined oil products to and from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraq's government has also attempted to pressure Kurds to walk back their vote, demanding that they hand over control of airports and borders and imposing a ban on international flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday. Officials in Baghdad said the flights would resume if the central government received control of Kurdistan's airports. That appears unlikely to happen.
"We will not allow even one single person from Iraq, from the Iraqi civil aviation, or from the office of the Iraqi Council of Ministers to come to Erbil and Sulaimaniya international airports without our decision," Kurdistan Transport Minister Mawlood Bawa Murad said on Saturday.
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http://www.dw.com/en/iran-iraq-to-hold-drills-after-kurds-choose-independence/a-40760335
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