All international flights to and from the Kurdistan region will be suspended as of Friday, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority director said Thursday.

Internal flights to Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan will continue as normal, Akram el Malki said.

Furious by Kurdistan independence referendum, Iraqi government gave Kurdistan three days to hand over the two airports or face air embargo.

The suspension decision could effectively strand thousands of foreign nationals, since travel outside the KRG to the rest of Iraq is not permitted without a separately-obtained visa from the Arab authorities.