Iraq/Kuwait: Tensions between Iraq and Kuwait over the Khor Abdullah Channel

Feb 20, 2024 | Jamie Trinidad, E-International Relations
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The fate of a bilateral agreement on maritime navigation rights in the Khor Abdullah channel, which separates southern Iraq from northern Kuwait, has been cast into doubt by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq (see here for an English summary). The Court ruled in September 2023 that the Iraqi national law ratifying the 2012 agreement with Kuwait was unconstitutional because it did not receive the necessary support of a two-thirds majority in Iraq’s Council of Representatives. The decision represents a setback for relations between Iraq and Kuwait, with potentially broader geopolitical ramifications.