Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani warned that referendum for independence in the Iraqi Kurdistan region will have dire impacts on ties with the neighboring states. “The Islamic Republic of Iran which has always and in the hardest conditions stood beside the Kurdish brothers as a friend and ally doesn’t rate holding referendum as beneficial to the Iraqi Kurdistan region and is opposed to it”, Shamkhani said in an interview with the state TV on Sunday. He underlined the Kurdish officials’ influential and important role in the Iraqi government, and said, “The neighbors’ opposition to the referendum will create complicated and harsh conditions for Kurdistan in the region after the referendum”.
