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US pressures Iraqi Kurds to abandon vote on independence

 

NEW YORK - The United States ramped up pressure Wednesday on Iraq's Kurds to abandon a planned referendum on independence, threatening to withdraw international support for negotiations with Baghdad if the vote isn't scrapped.

 

In a forceful warning, the Trump administration said the costs of holding the Sept. 25 vote would be high "for all Iraqis, including Kurds." State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US was urging the Kurds to "accept the alternative" -- talks between the northern Kurdish region and Iraq's central government that the US and United Nations would facilitate.

 

"If this referendum is conducted, it is highly unlikely that there will be negotiations with Baghdad, and the above international offer of support for negotiations will be foreclosed," Nauert said.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.21.17, 08:34