Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani has declared that the "time has come" for the country's Kurds to hold a referendum on statehood, his office said on Wednesday.
"The time has come and the conditions are now suitable for the people to make a decision through a referendum on their future," Barzani said.
"This referendum would not necessarily lead to (an) immediate declaration of statehood, but rather to know the will and opinion of the people of Kurdistan about their future," said Barzani, who has remained in power despite the expiration of his term as president.
Iraqi Kurdish forces are a key US partner in the war against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
But both the referendum on independence — which Iraq's federal government opposes — and the issue of which areas it covers will raise tensions between the autonomous Kurdish region and Baghdad.
The region officially includes three provinces, but Kurdish forces now hold parts of four more over which the federal government wants to maintain control.
Federal forces fled positions in various northern areas in the summer of 2014 when facing an offensive by IS, allowing Kurdish forces to gain or solidify control over areas claimed by both them and Baghdad.
Oil-rich Kirkuk province, which is mostly held by Kurdish peshmerga forces, will be a particular point of contention due to the wealth of natural resources there.
Economic challenges are likely to be the biggest obstacle to Kurdish independence.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been independently exporting oil via Turkey from four northern provinces since a deal between it and Baghdad on oil and revenue sharing collapsed last year.
Both Baghdad and Kurdistan are facing a financial crisis due to plunging oil prices, on which they rely for the vast majority of government funds.
But the Kurds do not have the same access to the loans and bond markets that Baghdad can turn to in order to stay financially afloat.
