Fawad Hossein, Iraq's foreign minister, said that the US Department of the Treasury demanded from his country, as part of Washington's policy to increase economic pressure on Tehran, to block all but two border crossings with Iran.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said that one of the two crossings that should remain open is in the Kurdistan region.
Mr. Hossein, who pointed out that "there are many official and unofficial crossings between Iraq and Iran," said that "it will be difficult to close them all and it will affect the Iraqi economy." "The Americans still insist on closing these crossings and we are currently negotiating with them."
Last month, Iraq also temporarily blocked the Hezba border crossing, which is one of the busiest trade routes between the two countries, in order to test security measures and install testing equipment to prevent smuggling.
Reuters