Turkey said Wednesday that it had taken economic measures designed to weaken Kurdish rebels and groups that support it, a step that could affect the economy in the self-governing Kurdish administration in northern Iraq.
The U.S. acknowledged Wednesday it has undertaken military moves against Kurdish rebels in Iraq after asserting for weeks that their strikes in Turkey were a diplomatic matter.
Turkey announced a blitz of sanctions targeting Kurdish PKK rebels on Wednesday in a move expected to affect members of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish administration.
Iraq said on Wednesday it had set up more checkpoints to restrict the movement of Kurdish guerrillas and cut supply lines to their mountain hideouts following Turkey's demands for firm action against the rebels.
Turkey will push U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week to follow through on promises to help eradicate Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, but experts say the top U.S. diplomat's hands are tied.
The U.S. military has started giving more intelligence — "lots of intelligence" — to Turkey to help it against rebels staging cross-border attacks from their hiding places in neighboring Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday urged Tehran to help defuse the crisis with Turkey over Kurdish rebels and called for Iran's support at a conference on Iraq this week.
The United States is providing Turkey with intelligence on Kurdish rebel positions along the border with Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.
Washington is giving Turkey intelligence on Kurdish rebels hiding in Iraq and helping Ankara gain the "actionable" intelligence the Pentagon says is needed before any military strike, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.
The US is giving Turkey intelligence on Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, the Pentagon says.