Iran closes border with Iraqi Kurdistan

"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 oil-rich 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.