Iraq–Kuwait border

The border starts in the west at the Saudi tripoint on the Wadi al-Batin, and then follows this wadi as it flows north-eastwards. The border then turns east, following a straight line for 32 km (20 mi), before another straight line veers to the south-east for 26 km (16 mi), terminating at the coast by the junction of the Khawr Abd Allah and Khor as Subiyah opposite Hajjam Island.

Historically there was no clearly defined boundary in this part of the Middle East; Kuwait de jure fell under Basra Vilayet administration from 1875 until the end of World War I. At the start of the 20th century the Ottoman Empire controlled what is now Iraq and Britain de facto controlled Kuwait as a protectorate.{{citation|url=https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS103.pdf|title=International Boundary Study No. 103 – Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Boundary|date=15 September 1970|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-date=11 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811104253/https://fall.fsulawrc.com/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS103.pdf|url-status=dead}} Britain and the Ottoman Empire theoretically divided their realms of influence via the so-called "Blue" and "Violet lines" in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, by which the Ottomans recognised British claims on Kuwait, divided from Ottoman Mesopotamia along the Wadi al-Batin (the so-called 'green line', see map right). The convention was never ratified therefore remained not binding. Finally, the Ottomans and British emerged as enemies within months of the convention, as the outbreak of World War I diminished any hope left for ratification.Briton Cooper Busch, Britain and the Persian Gulf, 1894-1914 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 308, and 319.{{cite web|url= https://al-bab.com/negotiating-saudi-yemeni-international-boundary|title=Negotiating the Saudi-Yemeni international boundary|author=Richard Schofield|publisher=Al-Bab|date=31 March 1999|access-date= 30 March 2020}}{{cite web|url= https://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/publications/view/?id=49|title=The Iraq-Kuwait boundary dispute: historical background and the UN decisions of 1992 and 1993|author=Harry Brown|publisher=IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin|date=October 1994|access-date= 1 April 2020}}Wilkinson, 61, 66, and 96.{{Cite book |last=Khadduri |first=Majid |title=War in the Gulf, 1990-91 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780199923861 |pages=16}}

File:Map to show the Limits of Kuwait and Adjacent Country (1913).jpg

During the First World War an Arab Revolt, supported by Britain, succeeded in removing the Ottomans from most of the Middle East. As a result of the secret 1916 Anglo-French Sykes-Picot Agreement Britain gained control of the Ottoman Vilayets of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. After a revolt broke out in Iraq that demanded independence, the three Vilayets became mandatory Iraq in 1921, following a previous policy of centralization by Mamluks and Ottomans.{{Cite book |last=Kadhim |first=Abbas |title=Reclaiming Iraq: The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780292739246 |pages=10–11}}The new Cambridge modern history. Volume xii. p.293.{{Cite journal |last=Visser |first=Reidar |date=2009 |title=Proto-political conceptions of Iraq in late Ottoman times |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233710945 |journal=International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies|volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=143–154 |doi=10.1386/ijcis.3.2.143/1 }}{{Cite book |last=Gökhan Çetinsaya |title=The Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890-1908 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1134294956 |pages=4–5}} In 1932, the year that Iraq gained independence, Britain confirmed that the border between Iraq and Kuwait would run along the Wadi al-Batin, as well as confirming that Bubiyan and Warbah islands were Kuwaiti territory, though the precise positioning of the northern straight line segments near Safwan remained imprecise.

Kuwait gained independence in 1961, though Iraq refused to recognise the country claiming it as part of Iraq, which resulted in a show of force by Britain and the Arab League in support of Kuwait.{{cite web|last=James Paul & Martin Spirit|author2=Robinson, Peter|title=Kuwait: The first crisis 1961|work=Riots, Rebellions, Gunboats and Peacekeepers|year=2008|url=http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/Kuwait.htm|access-date=17 Jan 2010|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402192603/http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/Kuwait.htm|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last=Mobley|first=Richard A.|title=Gauging the Iraqi Threat to Kuwait in the 1960s - UK Indications and Warning|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|date=2007–2008|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/fall_winter_2001/article03.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613112002/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/fall_winter_2001/article03.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007|access-date=17 Jan 2010}}Helene von Bismarck, "The Kuwait Crisis of 1961 and its Consequences for Great Britain's Persian Gulf Policy", in British Scholar, vol. II, no. 1 (September 2009) pp. 75-96 Following an Iraqi coup in 1963, a treaty of friendship was signed the same year by which Iraq recognised the 1932 border. Despite this, the treaty was never ratified thus remained unbinding, and was later rejected by the revolutionary command.{{Cite book |last=Khadduri |first=Majid |title=War in the Gulf, 1990-91 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780199923861 |pages=71–72}} Over the ensuing decade Iraq often raised the issue of sea access and the traditional claim to Kuwait, most notably in 1973 with the 1973 Samita border skirmish.

In 1990 Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait, precipitating the Gulf War which restored Kuwait's sovereignty.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/cron/ |title=Frontline Chronology |access-date=20 March 2007 |format=PDF |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service}}{{Cite journal|publisher=CNN |date=17 January 2001 |title=Tenth anniversary of the Gulf War: A look back |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/01/16/gulf.anniversary/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211060829/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/01/16/gulf.anniversary/index.html |archive-date=11 December 2008 }} In July 1992 the matter of border demarcation was referred to the United Nations, which accurately mapped the boundary and then demarcated it on the ground, following the 1932 line with some minor adjustments.{{cite web|url=http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/bi-31966.pdf|title=FINAL REPORT ON THE DEMARCATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ AND THE STATE OF KUWAIT BY THE UNITED NATIONS IRAQ-KUWAIT BOUNDARY DEMARCATION COMMISSION|date=1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123232420/http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/bi-31966.pdf|archive-date=2022-01-23|access-date=2022-09-18|url-status=live|publisher=Legal Office of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations}} The border initially was accepted by Kuwait but not Iraq. Iraq accepted the border in November 1994.{{Cite web|date=2000|title=Iraq|url=http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001211012800/http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html|archive-date=December 11, 2000|access-date=2021-09-01|website=The World Factbook|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}{{Cite news|last=Crossette|first=Barbara|date=November 11, 1994|title=Iraqis to accept Kuwait's borders|page=A1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/11/world/iraqis-to-accept-kuwait-s-borders.html}} The United Nations Iraq–Kuwait Observation Mission monitored the border during the period 1991–2003. Relations between the two states have improved since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In February 2023, Kuwait's foreign minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said Iraq and Kuwait would hold talks aimed at resolving their bilateral maritime border dispute.{{Cite news |last=Irish |first=John |date=2023-02-18 |title=Kuwait foreign minister sees progress on maritime border with Iraq |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/kuwait-foreign-minister-sees-progress-maritime-border-with-iraq-2023-02-18/ |access-date=2023-02-21}}

The Iraq–Kuwait barrier ({{Langx|ar|حدود العراق-الكويت}} Hudud al-'Irāq-al-Kuwayt) is a {{convert|120|mi|km|adj=on}} border fence extending {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} into Iraq, {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} into Kuwait, and across the full length of their mutual border from Saudi Arabia to the Persian Gulf. Constructed by authorisation of the United Nations Security Council resolution 689, its stated purpose was to stop a re-invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

The border barrier, made of electrified fencing and concertina wire, is braced by a {{convert|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} and {{convert|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} trench, complete with a {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} dirt berm and guarded by hundreds of soldiers, several patrol boats, and helicopters. Construction of the barrier began in 1991.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

In January 2004, Kuwait decided to install a new {{convert|217|km|mi|order=flip|adj=on}} iron barrier along the border. The barrier was estimated to have cost $28 million and the entire length of the border; asphalted roads were also constructed to facilitate border security movement.{{cite web|url=http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040114/2004011402.html|title=Kuwait installs iron barrier on its borders with Iraq|access-date=6 April 2020 |date=14 January 2004 |publisher=Arabic News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716184156/http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040114/2004011402.html|archive-date=2012-07-16}}

• Safwan
• Umm Qasr

• Abdali

• Iraq–Kuwait relations

{{reflist}}

{{Borders of Iraq}}

{{Borders of Kuwait}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iraq-Kuwait border}}

Category:International borders

Category:Geography of Kuwait