The Iraqi News Agency reported today, Tuesday, that Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani stated that Iraq is keen to resolve the dispute with Kuwait regarding the Khor Abdullah maritime passage between the two countries, and that Baghdad is making efforts to find a solution to the navigation organization issue there. The official Iraqi news agency quoted Al-Sudani saying that the country seeks a solution that does not conflict with its constitution or international law. He added: "Such crises are resolved through understanding and rationality, away from the language of agitation and inflammatory populist statements that only produce more crises and tension."
Earlier this month, the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled the agreement that governs navigation in the Khor Abdullah passage unconstitutional. The court stated that the law under which the agreement was ratified should have received the approval of two-thirds of the members of parliament. The United Nations delineated the land borders between the two countries in 1993 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but the maritime border was left to be determined by the oil-producing countries.
The two countries reached a maritime border agreement in 2012, which was ratified by the parliaments of both countries in 2013. The Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah stated a few days ago to the Kuwait News Agency that the Iraqi court's decision on the waterway contains "historical inaccuracies" and called on Iraq to take "concrete, decisive, and immediate measures to address this ruling."
