Border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait resurfaced this week after the Iraqi government announced that it had deposited maps of its maritime boundaries with the United Nations, a move that angered Kuwait, the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and several other Arab countries.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the step was based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and was carried out on January 19 and February 9 of this year. It included “lists of geographical coordinates for specific points, accompanied by an illustrative map,” which were published on the United Nations website.
The Iraqi move provoked a strong reaction from Kuwait, which summoned Iraq’s chargé d’affaires to hand him a sharply worded protest note, describing the action as an “unjustified” infringement on its territorial sovereignty.
The Iraqi maps included maritime areas and elevations in Gulf waters, such as “Fasht al-Qayd” and “Fasht al-Aij,” which Kuwait says are areas that are historically and legally “fixed and stable” under its full sovereignty and have never been subject to any previous border dispute.
An Iraqi official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the issue has multiple dimensions. At its core, he said, it is a sovereignty issue related to Iraq’s right to affirm its authority over its territorial waters and the associated maritime zones.
“But more importantly, there are economic dimensions linked to securing trade routes and access to ports, especially in light of Iraq’s ambitious plans to play a key role as a corridor for global trade,” the official added in comments to Alhurra.
The border disputes between the two countries date back nearly three decades, specifically to 1990, when the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Iraqi forces were later expelled by a U.S.-led international coalition during the First Gulf War.
In the aftermath, the UN Security Council issued several resolutions, most notably Resolution 833 of 1993, which delineated the land border between the two countries and parts of the maritime boundary, while leaving other maritime areas to be resolved bilaterally.
Kuwaiti academic and writer Ayed Al-Manaa described the Iraqi step as “escalatory” and part of “political posturing,” expressing hope that the Iraqi government would reconsider the move.
“I think it is in Iraq’s interest to step back and think carefully about its own interests,” Al-Manaa told Alhurra.
Opposition to the Iraqi maps was not limited to Kuwait. All GCC member states quickly took similar positions.
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Saudi Arabia expressed its “grave concern,” stressing that the Iraqi coordinates overlap with Kuwaiti sovereign areas as well as areas belonging to the Saudi-Kuwaiti Divided Zone.
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain also issued statements of full solidarity with Kuwait, calling on Iraq to withdraw the maps and adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 833, which established the borders following the 1990 invasion.
GCC Secretary-General Jassim Al-Budaiwi explicitly urged Iraq to withdraw the deposited maps, warning that such “claims” could undermine efforts at joint cooperation between Baghdad and the region.
In response, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said that “the Kuwaiti government deposited its maritime maps and baselines with the United Nations in 2014 without consulting Iraq at the time, whereas the Iraqi government only recently deposited its map.”
Hussein added that “the Iraqi government believes in resolving problems through negotiations and dialogue, respecting state sovereignty, and refraining from interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”
In this context, the Iraqi official told Alhurra that Baghdad has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to international resolutions on border demarcation, but that what appears to be the other side’s lack of interest in reaching understandings on how to implement those resolutions is what prompted Iraq to act.
He noted that “the dispute remains a legal and technical one, tied to two fundamental principles that must be taken into account.
“The first is the principle of good neighborliness, consideration of the interests of both sides, and avoiding harm to the interests of the two brotherly peoples.
“The second is the existence of political will and a decision to settle the border file definitively, rather than leaving it unresolved and vulnerable to the impact of domestic or regional shifts.”
The official added that “the entry point to this is rapid and direct engagement in serious negotiations at two levels—bilateral and multilateral—in a way that guarantees the interests of all parties.”
Former Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun Al-Dulaimi said Iraq hopes Kuwait will consider what Baghdad views as a “maritime injustice” and Iraq’s genuine need for a practical maritime outlet to serve its economy.
“Kuwait has a coastline on the Arabian Gulf of about 499 kilometers, while Iraq’s coastline does not exceed roughly 80 kilometers, and it is already limited and not fully equipped to handle large commercial vessels,” Al-Dulaimi told Alhurra.
He believes that Iraq’s deposit of its maritime corridor maps with the United Nations “does not entail direct legal consequences,” but is rather “a political and legal message from the Iraqi side, the essence of which is: let us sit down and reach an understanding in a brotherly spirit—a calm dialogue between two neighboring brothers, and a practical understanding that takes the interests of both sides into account.”
Al-Manaa, for his part, believes that resolving the current crisis requires a return to the 2012 agreement.
“What Kuwait sees as a practical way out that would close this file and prevent its recurrence is for the contracting parties to respect their agreement and their signatures, and to abide by what they signed,” Al-Manaa said. “There are dialogues, negotiations, discussions, evidence, and maps, and a large amount of them can be presented to prove Kuwait’s entitlement.”
In 2012, the two countries signed an agreement regulating navigation in the vital Khor Abdullah waterway, which separates Kuwait’s Bubiyan and Warba islands from Iraq’s Al-Faw Peninsula. The waterway is Iraq’s main gateway to the Gulf. This was the first bilateral agreement between the two countries aimed at resolving border disputes not addressed in UN Security Council resolutions. However, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court annulled the agreement in 2023 following a lawsuit filed by two members of parliament, who argued that its ratification had not followed proper parliamentary procedures.
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
Ghassan Taqi
A journalist specializing in Iraqi affairs, he has worked with the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN) since 2015. He previously spent several years with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as various Iraqi and Arab media outlets.
Sakina Abdallah
A Saudi writer, researcher, and TV presenter
