Separation of the Iranian Sea Border with Iraq, Security and Geopolitical Requirements

Persian Gulf has belonged to Iran since the dawn of history. The presence of Iranians in this aquatic zone is a historical and geographical fact. In some periods of history, the Persian Gulf was considered as amongst inland waters. The lawful presence of Iran in the Persian Gulf dates back to the year 1923. At that time, despite the opposition of major powers such as Britain and the United States, attempts were made to make the presence of Iranian navy in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea organized. By adopting the law of determining the extent of the coastal waters and the area of ​​state control in the seas, on July 15, 1934, Iran's actions became operational. In the year 1956, the oil law was ratified and exploration operations began in the territories of Iran. Iraq, without specifying its maritime territory, claimed that Iran's operations had entered the territory of that country. It went on to take unilateral measures to determine the scope of his maritime area, which faced Iran’s non-acceptance. Over the past five decades, the land and border issues and political differences between Iran and Iraq have been effective in the lack of sea division between the two countries. The geographic position of the coasts of Iran and Iraq relative to each other and the exact location of the Tripartite Point, which is the crossing point of the maritime borders of Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, will have a great influence on the future border-determination process of the two countries. Currently, Iran's sea border with Iraq is under the influence of issues such as the re-signing of Algeria treaty in 1975, marking the borders with bars, the dredging of the Shatt al-Arab River (Arvandroud), the payment of war damage inflicted by Iraq, and so on. This article, while explaining the above-mentioned issues, tries to explain the necessity of settling the Iranian sea border with Iraq.