Addressing a high-level meeting of Judiciary officials in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani slammed the Kurdistan Regional Government’s move to hold an independence referendum as part of a new plot hatched by the hegemonic powers, particularly by the Zionist regime of Israel, to create turmoil in the region.

Expressing regret that the Kurdistan region has fallen into that trap, the top Iranian judge said the Iraqi government and all other parties are against such secession plan.

He further denounced the US hypocritical stance on the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s controversial vote of independence, and reiterated Iran’s outright opposition to disintegration of the neighboring countries.

“We regard the Iraqi government as a unified and integrated one, and the Kurdistan Region’s authorities should be aware that they will get nowhere in the path to disintegration,” Ayatollah Amoli Larijani added.

Iraq’s Kurds rushed headlong into a vote for independence on September 25, although neighbors and countries in the Middle East, including Iran and Turkey, voiced opposition to the vote and supported the Baghdad central government.

After the controversial vote, thousands of Kurdish people in favor of Kurdistan Regional Government’s secession from Iraq took to the streets in Erbil, with some waving Israeli flags to celebrate.

“The US siege on women and children is an illogical move given a history of cooperation between Washington and Daesh,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

“We believe this is an attempt to negatively affect the victory of the Lebanese government and Resistance movement,” the Foreign Ministry’s official website quoted him as saying.

“The aerial siege against women and children in civilian buses and the killing of several pregnant women over the past two days could turn into a humanitarian disaster if it continues,” Qassemi said, warning that it could further fuel violence across the region.

He also welcomed and expressed support for humanitarian efforts made by the Lebanese resistance movement and Lebanon’s government to save innocent civilians, which turned Lebanon’s military triumph into an even greater victory.

Thanks to the resistance shown by the governments, armies, and resistance forces of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and by virtue of the cooperation and support of Iran and Russia, the Daesh terrorist group is on the verge of complete annihilation, and the campaign to fully eradicate terrorism in Syria and Iraq is going on with a vengeance, he stated.

Therefore, the spokesperson added, imposing a blockade on a number of women and children in a desert has no military value and will only stoke violence in the region.

“Fighting armed Daesh militants is different from killing ordinary and innocent people,” he added.

“Iran, as a country which is at the forefront of the campaign against terrorism, especially Daesh, calls on the UN to intervene and prevent the killing of innocent people,” Qassemi concluded.