Maritime claims: continental shelf: not specified territorial sea: 12 nm
International disputes: Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in 1990 but are still trying to work out written agreements settling outstanding disputes from their eight-year war concerning border demarcation, prisoners-of-war, and freedom of navigation and sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway; in November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and 883 (1993); this formally ends earlier claims to Kuwait and to Bubiyan and Warbah islands; dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Climate: mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northern mountainous regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows which melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq
Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m highest point: Gundah Zhur 3,608 m
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur
Land use:
arable land: 12%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 9%
forest and woodland: 3%
other: 75%
Irrigated land: 25,500 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: government water control projects have drained most
of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or
diverting the feeder streams and rivers; a once sizable population
of Shi'a Muslims, who have inhabited these areas for thousands of
years, has been displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the
natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife
populations; inadequate supplies of potable water; development of
Tigris-Euphrates Rivers system contingent upon agreements with
upstream riparian Turkey; air and water pollution; soil degradation
(salinization) and erosion; desertification
natural hazards: dust storms, sandstorms, floods
international agreements: party to - Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test
Ban; signed, but not ratified - Environmental Modification
People ———
Population: 21,422,292 (July 1996 est.)