September 27, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 14, 1428

SULAIMANIYAH, Sept 26: Iran’s closure of its frontier with Iraq is costing the autonomous Kurdish region one million dollars a day, a government minister said on Wednesday, as trucks remained stuck at the border.

“There are goods costing millions waiting across the border,” Kurdistan trade minister Mohammed Raouf said, referring to the Haj Umran frontier post near the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil.

Efforts were now under way to redirect the trucks, many carrying frozen goods such as chicken, meat and eggs, through neighbouring Turkey into Iraq, he said.

“The Kurdistan region is losing one million dollars per day because of the closure.” Iran said on Monday it was closing its frontier with Iraq in protest at the detention last week of Iranian national Mahmudi Farhadi by US troops.

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 Iraq’s bloody sectarian conflict.

Iran has made clear that it regards Iraqi sovereignty as at stake in Farhadi’s continued custody, after both the regional and national authorities of Iraq said he had been visiting with their consent.

Angry Kurdish merchants in Arbil said they were being forced to search for other sources of foodstuffs and electronic goods, the main items imported from Iran, possibly in Turkey or Syria.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, on Tuesday declared the arrest of the Iranian “illegal” and again demanded his release.

“We have asked the US authorities to release the arrested man,” Talabani told reporters in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah.

“Arresting a person in Kurdistan is illegal because his security file was under the jurisdiction of the provincial government,” said Talabani.—AFP