The Iraqi-Kuwaiti maritime borders in Khawr Abdullah

• Khawr Abdullah is of great importance to Iraq.

• It is the waterway leading to the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Al-Zubayr.

• The depth of its navigation channel allows the passage of ships with a draft of 11 meters.

• Establishing the port of Fao at the beginning of the creek will make it a strategic corridor and an important economic gateway for Iraq linking Asia with Europe.

• The United Nations demarcated the maritime borders in Khawr Abd Allah in accordance with Security Council Resolution 833.

• The United Nations adopted the principle of the middle line in the division in accordance with Article (15) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

• Article (15) stated that the principle of the existence of the historical document or other circumstances in defining the territorial sea for each of the two countries should be taken into account.

• The UN Border Demarcation Committee ignored Iraq's historical right to Khawr Abd Allah.

• Iraq is the one who dug the Khawr Abd Allah canal and installed marine buoys.

• There is no presence of the Kuwaiti side in the channel until 2003.

• The geographical and scientific conditions of the region of alluvial deposits west of Al-Faw confirm Iraq's right to the creek.

• Experts believe that considering the taluk line is the ideal solution for demarcating the waterway up to pillar 162 instead of the center line.

• That the demarcation stop at Pillar 162, where the view of Boubyan Island ends, deprived Iraq of a larger territorial water area, according to the rule of the midline.

• Because the Iraqi coast is heading towards the sea parallel to the navigational corridor of Khawr Abdullah.

• The conclusion of the agreement regulating navigation in Khor Abdullah is a complete recognition of the border demarcation decisions.

• Kuwait established a fixed platform in an area that recedes from the water at the islands.

• To adopt it as a baseline for the Kuwaiti territorial sea, and deposited a decree to that effect with the United Nations.

• This platform will be located within Iraqi waters if the demarcation takes place according to the center line rule up to 12 nautical miles, according to Security Council Resolution No. 833.

• All of this is happening while Iraq remains silent, except for a shy protest memorandum filed in 2019 against building that platform.

• What is required from Iraq now is to legislate the Iraqi regional sea law and deposit it with the United Nations.