Iraq says Iran has shut border with Kurdistan

BAGHDAD/DUBAI – Iran on Sunday shut its border crossings with Iraq's Kurdistan in support of measures taken by the Iraqi government to isolate the Kurdish region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.

"At the request of the Iraqi government, the Islamic Republic of Iran closed today the border crossings with the Kurdistan region of Iraq,'' the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement in Baghdad.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi had indirectly dismissed claims these crossings were shut. ''As far as I know, nothing new has happened in this area,'' the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted him as saying.

An Iranian MP Mohammad-Javad Nobandegani said Tehran did not want to publicise the closing of the border.