Iran shuts border with northern Iraq

[lovuian]

Iran shuts border with northern Iraq
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/301764/1/.html

ULAIMANIYAH, Iraq : Iran closed its border with northern Iraq on Monday in protest at the detention of an Iranian by US troops, a day after it confirmed shelling Iraqi rear bases of separatist Kurdish rebels.

"All five entry points on the border between Iran and the (Iraqi) Kurdish region have been closed by the Iranian authorities from today," said Jamal Abdallah, spokesman for the autonomous Kurdish regional government.

Iran confirmed it had shut the border following the detention of Mahmudi Farhadi by US forces on Thursday.

The US military charges that Farhadi is an officer in the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, accused by American commanders of helping Shiite militias involved in a bloody sectarian conflict.

"We have closed the border and we hope the Iraqi authorities will act as quickly as possible to release our colleague," the governor of Iran's northwestern Kordestan province, Esmaeel Najar, told AFP.

"We had said that if he (Farhadi) was not freed rapidly, we would reconsider our commercial ties" with the Iraqi Kurdish region, Najar added.
more...

tick tock tick tock :nuke:

[Submariner]

1. Another step on the way to the Bush Armageddon n/t

[OlderButWiser]

2. I'm surprised to know

that the borders between Irag & Iran were open at all.