The United States does not recognize the independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan and urges an end to “threats of reciprocal actions,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on Friday.
“The United States does not recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government’s unilateral referendum held on Monday. The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq,” Tillerson said, new outlets reported.
“We urge calm and an end to vocal recriminations and threats of reciprocal actions,” he added.
Step Towards Mideast Partition
Meanwhile, the Lebanese group Hezbollah says the Iraqi Kurdish independence vote marked a first step towards the partition of the Middle East, warning it would lead to “internal wars” and must be opposed.
Hassan Nasrallah said at a Saturday night rally events in northern Iraq “will open the door to partition, partition, partition”. “Partition means taking the region to internal wars whose end and timeframe is known only to God.”
Nasrallah noted his group’s arch-enemy Israel had come out in support of Kurdish statehood and described the referendum as part of an American-Israeli plot to carve up the region.
Nasrallah said divisions would also reach other countries in the region including Saudi Arabia, a country he harshly criticized in his speech.
