Kuwait Claimed Territorialities and Overlapping with Iranian Maritime Zones in the Persian Gulf (Review and Cartographic Analysis of the Law and Map of Kuwait Maritime Zones (2014))

Coastal states, have been affected by international law of the sea to develop and approve national laws that reflect their claims to the sea. These claims, are always considered by other countries, especially the neighbors and great sea powers and if these laws and claims are inconsistent with international laws and regulations or in conflict with their rights and interests at sea, they will respond to diplomatic objections. Kuwait also approved the rules in the field of territoriality at sea in the years 1949, 1967 and 2014, the Kuwaiti maritime zones law adopted in 2014 is the most complete and recent. The present study, with a descriptive-analytical approach and with documentary review, examined the law of Kuwait's maritime zones. Also in the Arc GIS software, the annexed map of the law has undergone cartographic analysis. Studies and analyzes indicate that the use of straight baselines at the mouth of the Kuwait Bay does not comply with the Convention on the Law of the Sea in the following cases. 1) The use of closing lines with a total length of more than 24 nautical miles in the mouth of the Kuwait Bay, 2) No official publication of the geographical coordinates of the points of straight baseline, 3) Insert the Awhah island behind the straight baseline, In addition, the cartographic analysis of the Kuwaiti Maritime zones Legislation Map, illustrates the interference and overlap between the Kuwaiti claimed maritime zones and the maritime zones of Iran. So far, the eastern boundary of the Kuwait's exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf has exceeded the Middle line of Persian Gulf, and even the fourth point of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian maritime boundary (agreed in 2000). This expanding territoriality and transit through the Middle Line, violate the principles and rules of international law of the sea. Meanwhile, Iran and Kuwait have not reached an agreement on the delimitation of the continental shelf. Due to the presence of oil and gas resources and fields in this area, such acts and claims affect the process of delimiting the boundaries of the continental shelf of the two countries.