MNA– Former IRGC General Mohsen Rezaei said the independence referendum held by the Iraqi Kurdistan region was KRG President Masoud Barzani’s coup against his rivals to expunge them from the Kurdish region.

“Barzani sought to put either himself or his representative in the position of Iraq’s Kurdish president,” Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei said in a tweet on Friday.

“[The referendum] was not about the interest of the Kurdish people,” Rezaei said. “It was only aimed at an internal clean-up and promoting the sentiments of heroism.”

The controversial referendum was held on Monday in Iraq’s Kurdistan despite widespread calls for its cancellation.

According to Kurdish officials, over 90 percent of the voters said ‘Yes’ to separation from Iraq, while the United Nations, the US, and all major regional and international parties, except for Israel, voiced strong opposition to the plan.

In a statement on Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington does not recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government’s unilateral referendum held on Monday.

“The vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq,” Tillerson said, adding “the United States asks all parties, including Iraq's neighbors, to reject unilateral actions and the use of force. We urge calm and an end to vocal recriminations and threats of reciprocal actions.”