Abstract:
The region of the Persian Gulf can be seen as a heartland under the geopolitical influence of which the Arab-Iranian relations are shaped. As one the world’s primary and most significant source of fossil-energy exports, the Persian Gulf cobbles together the eight countries of the region in a geopolitical panorama, in which they enjoy similarities in economic and strategic life, as well as security concerns. As well, the challenges of maritime political geography seem to be quite dependent on an established set of standards and agreements in order to remain on solid grounds. Currently, these challenges manifest themselves in four major categories, with substantial geopolitical consequences between the Iranians and the Arabs of the region, and the complexity of their relationships. These include: Religious Controversies, which concern the sectarian geopolitics, propagated under Jordan-Israeli concoction of “Shiite Crescent”, Territorial Contentions; with its major controversy over the naming of the Persian Gulf. This article examines the process of territorial conflicts, proceedings and eventually the settlements over the maritime areas of the Persian Gulf in the past five decades. The arrangement of the maritime political geography in the Persian Gulf is a fitting example of former disputes over the border and boundaries within the maritime regions of the world.
Machine summary:
"Eventually, in October 1996, it was announced that Saudi Arabia and Qatar jointly commissioned a French company to demarcate their mutual inland boundaries; 4) Iraq - Kuwait maritime boundaries are not negotiated because of the two states' inland territorial and boundary disputes that automatically include the offshore areas of the two countries; 5) Kuwait, on the other hand, has not been able to define her continental shelf limits with Saudi Arabia, owing to their disagreements on the question of sovereignty over the islands of Kubbor, Qaruh and Umm al-Maradim; 6) Defining the Iran - Iraq continental shelf boundaries in the so-called Golden Triangle will depend, on the one hand, on the settlement of Iraq - Kuwait territorial and boundary disputes, and on the other, it will depend on the final settlement of the Iran - Iraq boundary dispute in the region of Shatt al-Arab; and, 7) Official delimitation of the continental shelf boundaries between Iran and Kuwait is similarly prevented by territorial and boundary disputes between Iraq and Kuwait, albeit the two signed a draft agreement in 1962 governing their mutual maritime areas.
" Negotiations continued however, until October 24, 1968, when Iran and Saudi Arabia successfully delimited their mutual continental shelf boundary on the basis of2: recognizing Iran's sovereignty of the Farsi Island, and the Saudi Arabian ownership of the Arabic Island; the territorial waters within the 12 mile radius of the low-water-mark of the two islands of Farsi and Arab to be respected for both islands, until they begin to overlap, which is when the median line would run half-way between them; recognition of Khark Island's low-water-mark as part of Iran's mainland coast line and delimitating the median line on that basis; and, 4) A 500 meter oil exploration restriction area to be applied to either side of the entire length of the median line, which would prevent the two parties from drilling diagonally for oil from the other side (Young, 1970: 125-157)."