Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and
Kuwait
Geographic coordinates: 33 00 N, 44 00 E
Map references: Middle East
Area: total: 437,072 sq km land: 432,162 sq km water : 4,910 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Idaho
Land boundaries:
total: 3,631 km
border countries : Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 242 km, Saudi
Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 331 km
Coastline: 58 km
Maritime claims: continental shelf: not specified territorial sea: 12 nm
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