Geography of Iraq - Area and Boundaries

Area and Boundaries

In 1922 British officials concluded the Treaty of Mohammara with Abd al Aziz ibn Abd ar Rahman Al Saud, who in 1932 formed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The treaty provided the basic agreement for the boundary between the eventually independent nations. Also in 1922 the two parties agreed to the creation of the diamond-shaped Neutral Zone of approximately 7,500 km2 (2,900 sq mi) adjacent to the western tip of Kuwait in which neither Iraq nor Saudi Arabia would build dwellings or installations. Bedouins from either country could utilize the limited water and seasonal grazing resources of the zone. In April 1975, an agreement signed in Baghdad fixed the borders of the countries.

Through Algerian mediation, Iran and Iraq agreed in March 1975 to normalize their relations, and three months later they signed a treaty known as the Algiers Accord. The document defined the common border all along the Khawr Abd Allah (Shatt) River estuary as the thalweg. To compensate Iraq for the loss of what formerly had been regarded as its territory, pockets of territory along the mountain border in the central sector of its common boundary with Iran were assigned to it. Nonetheless, in September 1980 Iraq went to war with Iran, citing among other complaints the fact that Iran had not turned over to it the land specified in the Algiers Accord. This problem has subsequently proved to be a stumbling block to a negotiated settlement of the ongoing conflict.

In 1988 the boundary with Kuwait was another outstanding problem. It was fixed in a 1913 treaty between the Ottoman Empire and British officials acting on behalf of Kuwait's ruling family, which in 1899 had ceded control over foreign affairs to Britain. The boundary was accepted by Iraq when it became independent in 1932, but in the 1960s and again in the mid-1970s, the Iraqi government advanced a claim to parts of Kuwait. Kuwait made several representations to the Iraqis during the war to fix the border once and for all but Baghdad repeatedly demurred, claiming that the issue is a potentially divisive one that could inflame nationalist sentiment inside Iraq. Hence in 1988 it was likely that a solution would have to wait until the war ended.

Area:
total: 437,072 km2 (168,754 sq mi)
land: 432,162 km2 (166,859 sq mi)
water: 4,910 km2 (1,900 sq mi)

Land boundaries:
total: 3,631 km (2,256 mi)
border countries: Iran 1,458 km (906 mi), Saudi Arabia 814 km (506 mi), Syria 605 km (376 mi), Turkey 331 km (206 mi), Kuwait 242 km (150 mi), Jordan 181 km (112 mi)

Coastline: 58 km (36 mi)

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: not specified
territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m
highest point: Cheekah Dar 3,611 m (11,847 ft) (not Haji Ibrahim – 3,600 m/11,811 ft) True