Iran closes Kurdistan border

TEHRAN, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Iran has closed its border to Iraq's Kurdish region after the U.S. military's recent arrest of an Iranian suspected of training and equipping Iraqi insurgents.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called for the release of the Iranian, claiming he is a civil servant on an official trade mission in the Kurdistan region, CNN reported Monday.

Jamal Abdullah, the official spokesman of Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, said Iran closed the border until the Iranian, Mahmoody Farhadi, is released.

Farhadi was arrested Thursday in Sulaimaniya and has been called a member of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force.

The detainee allegedly has been involved in transporting improvised explosive devices and explosively formed penetrators into Iraq. Intelligence reports also indicate he was involved in the infiltration and training of foreign terrorists in Iraq, CNN said.