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Iraq Geography 1996
Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait
slightly more than twice the size of Idaho
total 3,631 km, Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 242 km, Saudi Arabia
814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 331 km
Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in 1990 but are still trying to
work out written agreements settling outstanding disputes from their
eight-year war concerning border demarcation, prisoners-of-war, and freedom
of navigation and sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway; in November
1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had
been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and
883 (1993); this formally ends earlier claims to Kuwait and to Bubiyan and
Warbah islands; potential dispute over water development plans by Turkey for
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers;
northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience
cold winters with occasionally heavy snows which melt in early spring,
sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq
mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south; mountains
along borders with Iran and Turkey
petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur
government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh
areas west of Al Qurnah by drying up or diverting the feeder streams and
rivers; a once sizable population of Shi'a Muslims, who have inhabited these
areas for thousands of years, has been displaced; furthermore, the
destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's
wildlife populations; inadequate supplies of potable water; development of
Tigris-Euphrates Rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream
riparian Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation (salinization)
and erosion; desertification
duststorms, sandstorms, floods
international agreements:
party to - Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified -
Environmental Modification
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