Geopolitics of the Northwestern Persian Gulf
Video Transcript:
Video Transcript:
The northwestern Persian Gulf is a small but geopolitically significant area. It is the convergence point for the region's two main powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia, but it is also where two other Persian Gulf rivals, Iraq and Kuwait, collide.
Southern Iraq is latticed by a network of canals, streams and narrow waterways flowing mostly into the Shatt al-Arab that pours into the Persian Gulf. But Iraq has only a sliver of access to the Gulf with about 58 kilometers of coastline and only two channels deep enough for large vessels to transit.
By comparison, Kuwait, Iraq's much smaller neighbor, has almost 500 kilometers of coastline and nine islands.
Kuwait, therefore, effectively controls one of only two maritime approaches to southern Iraq through the narrow Khor Abdullah waterway. No more than 10 kilometers at its widest point, the Khor Abdullah is the only sea access for the Iraqi commercial port of Umm Qasr.
Both Iraq and Kuwait have plans to build mega ports that would utilize Khor Abdullah. Iraq's plans remain largely on the drawing board while Kuwait broke ground in May 2011 on its $1.6 billion new port, Mubarak al-Kabeer, on Bubiyan Island.
Due for completion by March 2016, the port will be situated across the narrow channel from the site on al Faw where Iraq wants to build its mega port.
These port plans are part of a larger rivalry between Iraq and Kuwait and will be a flashpoint for contention in the future as this area is an extremely important entry point for goods and supplies into the region as well as for exporting oil.
