An official of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote in the Kurdish independence referendum at a hotel in Arbil on September 25, 2017.

:: The United States warned that an independence referendum Monday for Iraqi Kurdistan to break away from Baghdad will “increase instability.”

“The United States is deeply disappointed that the Kurdistan Regional Government decided to conduct today a unilateral referendum on independence, including in areas outside of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

“The United States’ historic relationship with the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region will not change in light of today’s non-binding referendum, but we believe this step will increase instability and hardships for the Kurdistan region and its people.”