For Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s harsh reaction was seen as an attempt to placate Shiite hard-liners demanding a severe response to the Kurdish provocation.

Both leaders face elections in the coming months. Now, having made their points, both seem willing to back away from the precipice.

Mr. Abadi’s spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, said in an interview Tuesday the Iraqi government had not carried out most of its threats yet to give the Kurds “every opportunity to step back from their position.”

“The government does not want to inflame the situation,” he said. “We believe they will back down.”

He insisted, however, that the government had a timetable for forcing the Kurds to surrender control of its borders and its oil income but he declined to provide details.

Hard-line Shiite factions aligned with Iran are a powerful voting bloc in Iraq, and many of them are supporters of Mr. Abadi’s leading political opponent, Vice President Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Threatening tough action against the Kurds helps Mr. Abadi buttress his Shiite base.

“This is a long-term strategy,” said Ali al-Alaq, a leading Iraqi lawmaker and a confidant of Mr. Abadi’s. Gradually Iraq will cut off Kurdistan’s exports and revenues until it gives in. “In the end,” he said, “the revenues will come and Mr. Barzani will be left with nothing and his dreams will collapse.”

For their part, the Kurds say they never intended to follow the vote with an immediate declaration of independence.