Iran closes border with Iraqi Kurdistan

TEHRAN: Iran has shut its border with Iraqi Kurdistan in response to its independence referendum, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

“At the request of the Iraqi government, we have closed our land and air borders” with Iraqi Kurdistan, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said at a press conference.

The referendum is “illegal and illegitimate,” he added.

Iran had already announced on Sunday that it was stopping all flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan in response to the vote. President Hassan Rouhani spoke overnight with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-abadi, saying: “The Islamic republic of Iran fully supports the central government of Iraq.”

The referendum went ahead on Monday despite strong opposition from Baghdad and its neighbours, as well as Western governments including the United States. Iran fears the vote could encourage separatists in its own Kurdish region, and said last week that independence could mean an end to all of border and security arrangements. Iranian security forces have faced regular attacks by militant Kurdish separatists, primarily based across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s central government in Baghdad ordered the country’s Kurdish region to hand over all border crossings and airports to federal government control late last night, hours before the region is set to carry out a controversial referendum on support for independence.

The referendum is set to be held on Monday in the three provinces that make up the Kurdistan region as well as dozens of towns and villages that are disputed, claimed by both Baghdad and the country’s Kurds, including the oilrich city of Kirkuk.

The Iraqi government “requests neighboring counties and the countries of the world to deal with the Iraqi federal government exclusively (with regards to) ports and oil,” read a statement from the prime minister’s national security council released last night. The Kurdish region’s president Masoud Barzani pledged the vote would be held despite pressure from Baghdad and the international community. He said that while the referendum will be the first step in a long process to negotiate independence, the region’s “partnership” with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad is over. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has imposed new travel restrictions on citizens from North Korea, Venezuela and Chad, expanding to eight the list of nations covered by his original travel ban that has been widely criticised as anti-muslim and challenged in court.

For the last three months, the Trump administration used a controversial executive order to ban foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries—iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan - from entering the US unless they have a “bona fide” relationship with a person or entity in America.

Trump unveiled a revamped travel ban as his controversial immigration order covering six Muslim-majority nations was coming to an end.

The new rule, which will come into effect on October 18, will continue to target travellers from Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Iran, but also adds North Korea, Chad and Venezuela to the original list of targeted countries.

Sudan has been dropped from the administration’s new list and Iraqi citizens will be subjected to “additional scrutiny” but will not face any blanket ban.

The new list of countries notably includes several nonMuslim majority nations, including North Korea and Venezuela.

In most instances, travel will be broadly suspended, while in other cases, travelers will have to undergo enhanced screening and vetting requirements.

“Following an extensive review by the Department of Homeland Security, we are taking action today to protect the safety and security of the Amer- ican people by establishing a minimum security baseline for entry into the US,” Trump said.

“We cannot afford to continue the failed policies of the past, which present an unacceptable danger to our country.

My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and in issuing this new travel order, I am fulfilling that sacred obligation,” he said.

The White House described the move as a critical step toward establishing an immi- gration system that protects Americans’ safety and security in an era of dangerous terrorism and transnational crime.

It said North Korea did not co-operate with the US government “in any respect” and failed all requirements - and so all travel to the US by its citizens has been banned.

Tensions have flared up between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Trump’s original ban was subject to a range of legal challenges and several large-scale protests, and is due to be considered by the US Supreme Court in October, having been partly reinstated in July.

Critics have accused the president of discriminating against Muslims in violation of constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and equal protection under the law, breaking existing US immigration law and stoking religious hatred.

Trump had called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” during his election campaign.

The new restrictions being imposed on eight countries are conditional and may be lifted as they work with the US Government to ensure the safety of Americans.

In a statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the State Department will coordinate with other federal agencies to implement these measures in an orderly manner.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union rights group said the addition of the new countries “doesn’t obfuscate the real fact that the administration’s order is still a Muslim ban”.