Iraq: Iraq Geography Profile

Iraq is a country of 31 million people in the Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait. It has a strategic location on Shatt al Arab waterway and at the chief of the Persian Gulf.

Its major environmental issues include:

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 people of Marsh Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years, has been displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the natural habitat poses critical threats to the area's wildlife populations;

• inadequate supplies of potable water;
• development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian Turkey;
• air and water pollution;
• soil degradation (salination) and erosion; and,
• desertification

Iraq is susceptible to dust storms; sandstorms; and floods.

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by Britain during the course of World War I.

In 1920, it was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK government. In stages over the next dozen years, Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932.

A "republic" was proclaimed in 1958, but in actuality a series of strongmen ruled the country until 2003. The last was Saddam Husayn.

Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-88).

In August 1990, Iraq seized Kuwait but was expelled by US-led, UN coalition forces during the Gulf War of January-February 1991.

Following Kuwait's liberation, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections. Continued Iraqi noncompliance with UNSC resolutions over a period of 12 years led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the ouster of the Saddam Husayn regime.

US forces remained in Iraq under a UNSC mandate through 2009 and under a bilateral security agreement thereafter, helping to provide security and to train and mentor Iraqi security forces.

In October 2005, Iraqis approved a constitution in a national referendum and, pursuant to this document, elected a 275-member Council of Representatives (COR) in December 2005. The COR approved most cabinet ministers in May 2006, marking the transition to Iraq's initial constitutional government in nearly a half century.

In January 2009, Iraq held elections for provincial councils in all governorates except for the three governorates comprising the Kurdistan Regional Government and Kirkuk Governorate. Iraq held a national legislative election in March 2010 - choosing 325 legislators in an expanded COR - and, next nine months of deadlock the COR approved the new government in December 2010.

Nearly nine years next the start of the Second Gulf War in Iraq, US military operations there ended in mid-December 2011.

Approximately two million Iraqis have fled the conflict in Iraq, with the majority taking refuge in Syria and Jordan, and lesser numbers to Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and Turkey.

Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf.

Turkey has expressed concern over the autonomous status of Kurds in Iraq

Geography

Iraq is bordered by Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The country slopes from mountains over 3,000 meters (10,000 ft.) above sea level along the border with Iran and Turkey to the remnants of sea-level marshes in the southeast. Much of the land is desert or non-arable. The mountains in the northeast are an extension of the alpine system that runs eastward from the Balkans into southern Turkey, northern Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, terminating in the Himalayas.

Average temperatures range from higher than 48°C (120°F) in July and August to below freezing in January. Most of the rainfall occurs from December through April and averages between 10 and 18 centimeters (4-7 in.) annually. The mountainous region of northern Iraq receives appreciably additional precipitation than the central or southern desert region.

Location: Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait

Geographic Coordinates: 33 00 N, 44 00 E

Area: 438,317 sq km(land: 437,367 sq km; water: 950 sq km)

Land Boundaries: 3,650 km (Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 240 km, Saudi Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 352 km)

Coastline: 58 km

Maritime Claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
continental shelf: not specified

Natural Hazards: dust storms; sandstorms; floods

Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes along Iranian border in south with large flooded areas; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey. The highest point is an unnamed peak; (3,611 m). Note - this peak is neither Gundah Zhur (3,607 m) nor Kuh-e Hajji-Ebrahim (3,595 m).

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 that melt in early spring, sometimes causing extensive flooding in central and southern Iraq.

Ecology and Biodiversity

1. Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests

2. Middle East steppe

3. Mesopotamian shrub desert

4. Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands

5. Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert

6. Persian Gulf desert and semi-desert

7. South Iran Nubo-Sidanian desert and semi-desert

8. Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh

9. Zagros Mountains forest steppe

See as well: Biological diversity in the Irano-Anatolian