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{{Short description |River in Western Asia}}
:''The name "Arvand" may also refer to ] river''.
{{Use dmy dates|date= January 2021}}

{{EngvarB|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox_river | river_name = Shatt al-Arab
{{Infobox river
| image_name = Shat Al-Arab-Basra.jpg
| name = Shatt al-Arab
| caption = Shatt al-Arab near ], ] (Iran is on the left of the photo).
| native_name =
| origin = ], ] and ]
| name_other =
| mouth = ]
| image = Shat al-arab-22.JPG
| basin_countries = ], ]
| image_caption = Shatt al-Arab pictured near ], ]
| length = {{km to mi|200|abbr=yes|wiki=yes}}
| map = File:Tigr-euph.png
| elevation =
| map_size =
| mouth_elevation =0
| map_caption = Drainage basin and two major tributaries
| discharge = 1750 m³/s
| country = ], ], ]<ref name="Ancient_Bubiyan"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1379427/FULLTEXT01.pdf|title= Global Climate Change Impacts on Tigris Euphrates Rivers Basins|page=55}}</ref>
| watershed =
| source2 = ]
| source2_elevation = {{cvt|4|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| source1 = ]
| source1_elevation = {{convert|4|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| tributaries_right = ]
| mouth_location = ]
| width_min = {{cvt|250|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq">{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Water|url=https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|doi=10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|title=General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq|last1=Safaa|first1=Al-Asadi|last2=Abdulzahra|first2=Alhello|volume=13|page=360-375|year=2019}}</ref>
| width_max = {{cvt|1,500|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq">{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Water|url=https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|doi=10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|title=General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq|last1=Safaa|first1=Al-Asadi|last2=Abdulzahra|first2=Alhello|volume=13|page=360-375|year=2019}}</ref>
| length = {{cvt|204|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name="General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq">{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Water|url=https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|doi=10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|title=General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq|last1=Safaa|first1=Al-Asadi|last2=Abdulzahra|first2=Alhello|volume=13|page=360-375|year=2019}}</ref>
*{{cvt|200|km|mi|abbr=on}} from confluence of ]-]
*{{cvt|3,596|km|mi|abbr=on}} total length including ]
| mouth_elevation = {{cvt|0|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| discharge4_avg = (Period: 1971–2000){{cvt|2,531.8|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal">{{cite web|url=https://www.riversnetwork.org/MAPS/NEAR%20EAST/TIGRIS_DELTA/index.html|title=Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal}}</ref>
| basin_size = {{cvt|938,173|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}<ref name="General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq">{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Water|url=https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|doi=10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|title=General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq|last1=Safaa|first1=Al-Asadi|last2=Abdulzahra|first2=Alhello|volume=13|page=360-375|year=2019}}</ref> to {{cvt|884,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}
| discharge4_location = ], ] (confluence of ] and ] rivers)
| discharge1_location = Shatt al-Arab Delta, ]
| discharge1_avg = (Period: 1971–2000){{cvt|3,535|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal">{{cite web|url=https://www.riversnetwork.org/MAPS/NEAR%20EAST/TIGRIS_DELTA/index.html|title=Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal}}</ref>
(Period: 1977–2018){{cvt|105.7|km3/year|m3/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq">{{cite journal|journal=International Journal of Water|url=https://doi.org/10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|doi=10.1504/IJW.2019.106049|title=General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq|last1=Safaa|first1=Al-Asadi|last2=Abdulzahra|first2=Alhello|volume=13|page=360-375|year=2019}}</ref>
| discharge2_location = ], ]
| discharge2_avg = (Period: 1971–2000){{cvt|3,531.6|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal">{{cite web|url=https://www.riversnetwork.org/MAPS/NEAR%20EAST/TIGRIS_DELTA/index.html|title=Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal}}</ref>
| tributaries_left = ], ], ]
| discharge3_location = ], ]
| discharge3_avg = (Period: 1971–2000){{cvt|2,782.8|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal">{{cite web|url=https://www.riversnetwork.org/MAPS/NEAR%20EAST/TIGRIS_DELTA/index.html|title=Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal}}</ref>
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|30|24|15.59|N|48|09|3.60|E|type:_river}}
| extra = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |zoom=7 |height=250 |stroke-width=2 | {{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}
}} }}


The '''Shatt al-Arab''' (]: شط العرب, literally ''Coast of the Arabs''), or the '''Arvand Rūd''' (]: اروندرود, literally ''Arvand River''), is a ] in ] of some 200 km (125 mi) in length, formed by the confluence of the ] and the ] in the town of ] in the ] of southern ]. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and ] down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the ]. It varies in width from about 760&nbsp;feet (232&nbsp;m) at ] to 0.5&nbsp;mile (0.8&nbsp;km) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the ] via a channel further to the west. The '''Shatt al-Arab''' ({{langx|ar|شط العرب|lit=River of the ]}}; {{langx|fa|اروندرود|Arvand Rud|lit=Swift River}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shatt al Arab |url=https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e1349 |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=Oxford Public International Law |language=en |quote=The Shatt al Arab river (or Arvand Rud in Persian) is the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), which starts in the Iraqi town of Al-Qornah and after circa 120 miles flows into the Persian Gulf.}}</ref>) is a ] about {{Convert|200|km|mi}} in length that is formed at the ] of the ] in the town of ] in the ] of ]. The southern end of the river constitutes the ] down to its ], where it discharges into the ]. The Shatt al-Arab varies in width from about {{convert|232|m}} at ] to {{convert|800|m}} at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geological time, with the ] and ] originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west. ]'s ] is part of the Shatt al-Arab delta.<ref name="Ancient_Bubiyan">{{cite journal|first2=Robert|last2=Carter|first1=Linda|last1=Reinink-Smith|year=2022|title=Late Holocene development of Bubiyan Island, Kuwait|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research/article/abs/late-holocene-development-of-bubiyan-island-kuwait/FD3CB9742FC8B0A5EDE6EBAC8F15C301|journal=Quaternary Research|volume=109 |pages=16–38|doi=10.1017/qua.2022.3|bibcode=2022QuRes.109...16R |s2cid=248250022 }}</ref>


The ] river, a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of ] into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable. The ], a ] which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of ] into the river; this necessitates continuous ] to keep it navigable.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6583.html |title= Iraq – Major Geographical Features|work= country-data.com|access-date= 28 November 2015}}</ref>


The area used to hold the largest ] forest in the world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17–18 million date palms: an estimated one-fifth of the world's 90 million palm trees. However, by 2002, more than 14 million of the palms had been wiped out by the combined factors of war, salt and pests; this count includes around 9 million palms in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3–4 million trees are in poor health.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://na.unep.net/atlas/webatlas.php?id=169 |title= UNEP/GRID-Sioux Falls|work= unep.net|access-date= 28 November 2015}}</ref>
==Territorial disputes==
The use of the name '''Arvand''' for this river goes back to the ] <ref>, </ref>. From the ] (559 BC) until the ] in 1747, the river was for a long time part of the territories of the ] and was called the Arvand<ref>, </ref>. "Arvand" often changes to "Alvand"<ref> </ref>, and "Alvand" to "al-Wand" and then to the Arabic "Hulwan".<ref>Bagley, F. R. C. (1985) "Review: ''Iraq and Iran: The Years of Crisis'' by J. M. Abdulghani" ''International Affairs'' (Royal Institute of International Affairs) 61(3): p. 542</ref>


==Geography==
Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the ] that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 status quo was restored. The Iranian cities of ] and ] and the Iraqi city and major port of ] are situated along this river.
]
The Shatt al-Arab is formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at ], and flows into the ] south of the city of ]. It receives the ] at ].


==History==
]
3,000 years ago, the Persian Gulf was larger and the Shatt al-Arab had not then formed.


Dispute over the river occurred during the ] era, prior to the establishment of an independent Iraq in the 20th century. In the early 16th century, the Iranian ] gained most of what is present-day Iraq, including Shatt al-Arab. They later lost these territories to the expanding ] following the ] (1555).{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|page=xxxi}}
Control of the waterway and its use as a border have been a source of contention between the predecessors of the Iranian and Iraqi states since a peace treaty signed in 1639 between the ] and the ]s, which divided the territory according to tribal customs and loyalties, without attempting a rigorous land survey. The tribes on both sides of the lower waterway, however, are ]s, and the Ottoman Empire claimed to represent them. Tensions between the opposing empires that extended across a wide range of religious, cultural and political conflicts, led to the outbreak of hostilities in the ] and eventually yielded the Second Treaty of Erzurum between the two parties, in 1847, after protracted negotiations, which included ] and ]n delegates. Even afterwards, backtracking and disagreements continued, until British Foreign Secretary, ], was moved to comment in 1851 that "the boundary line between ] and ] can never be finally settled except by an arbitrary decision on the part of ] and ]". A ] between the ] and the Persians was signed in Constantinople in 1913, but ] canceled all plans.


In the early 17th century, the Safavids under king ('']'') ] (r. 1588–1629) once again regained Shatt al-Arab. Control of the river was at last permanently ceded to the Ottomans with the ] in 1639. Control of the waterway was also temporarily lost by the Safavids to the Ottomans ] treaty.{{sfn|Dougherty|Ghareeb|2013|page=681}} In general, the Treaty of Zuhab roughly re-established the common borders of the Ottomans and Safavid Empires the way they had been in 1555. However, the treaty never demarcated a precise and fixed boundary regarding the frontier in the south.
The British advisors in Iraq were able to keep the waterway bi-national under the '']'' principle that has worked in Europe (see ]): the dividing line was the line of steepest descent along the stream bed. All ] attempts to intervene as mediators were rebuffed. Under ], ]ist Iraq claimed the entire waterway up to the Iranian shore as its territory. But in 1975, Iraq signed the ] in which it recognized a series of straight lines closely approximating the thalweg (deepest channel) of the waterway, as the official border. In 1980, Hussein released a statement claiming to abrogate the treaty that he signed, and Iraq invaded Iran. (International law, however, holds in all cases that any bi-lateral or multi-lateral treaty cannot be abrogated by only one party.) The main thrust of the military movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks. When the ] was captured by the Iranians in 1987, Iraq's shipping activities virtually came to a halt and had to be diverted to other Arab ports, such as Kuwait and even ], ]. Later, and as the ] was looming, Saddam again recognized the Algiers Accord in order to appease Iranians before he could undertake an invasion of ].


Later, ] (r. 1736–1747) succeeded in restoring Iranian control over Shatt al-Arab for a time. With the ] (1746), however, the Zuhab boundaries were restored, ceding the river to the Turks once again.{{sfn|Shaw|1991|page=309}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marschall|first1=Christin|title=Iran's Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134429905|pages=1–272}}</ref> The ] (1823) concluded between Ottoman Turkey and ], resulted in the same.{{sfn|Kia|2017|page=21}}{{sfn|Potts|2004}}
==Recent conflicts==
] city, Iraq.]]
In the ], the waterway was a key military target for the Coalition Forces. Since it is the only outlet to the Persian Gulf, its capture was important in delivering humanitarian aid to the rest of the country, and also to stop the flow of illegal smuggling operations. The British ] staged an amphibious assault to capture the key oil installations and shipping docks located at ] on the ] at the onset of the conflict.


The ] was signed by Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran in 1847 after protracted negotiations, which included ] and ] delegates. Even afterwards, backtracking and disagreements continued, until British Foreign Secretary, ], was moved to comment in 1851 that "the boundary line between ] and ] can never be finally settled except by an arbitrary decision on the part of Great Britain and Russia". A ] between the Ottomans and the Persians was signed in ] in 1913, which declared that the Ottoman-Persian frontier run along the '']'', but ] canceled all plans.
Following the end of the war the UK was given responsibility, subsequently mandated by ] ], to patrol the waterway and the area of the ] surrounding the river mouth. They are tasked to make sure that ships in the area are not being used to transport munitions into Iraq. British forces have also trained Iraqi naval units to take over the responsibility of guarding their waterways.


]
On two separate occasions, Iranian forces operating on the Shatt al-Arab have captured British ] sailors who they claim have trespassed into their territory.
During the ] (1920–1932), the British advisors in Iraq were able to keep the waterway binational under the ] that worked in Europe: the dividing line was a line drawn between the deepest points along the stream bed. In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 7</ref> The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of the Shatt al-Arab except at ] and ] where the frontier ran along the ''thalweg'' (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; provided that all ships using the Shatt al-Arab fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt al-Arab.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8">Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page 8</ref> Shah ] of Iran together with his close friend President ] of Turkey had been promoting the ] intended to protect the neutrality of Muslim nations if the world should be plunged into war again. In return for the Shatt al-Arab treaty, Iraq joined the Saadabad pact and Iranian-Iraqi relations were friendly for decades afterward.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> The Saadabad pact ultimately brought together Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan in an alliance intended to protect their neutrality. In 1955, both Iran and Iraq were founding members of the ] alliance.<ref>Karsh, Efraim ''The Iran–Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002 page7</ref>
* In ], several British servicemen were held for ] after purportedly straying into the Iranian side of the waterway. After being initially threatened with prosecution, they were released after high-level conversations between British Foreign Secretary, ], and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, ]. The initial hardline approach was put down to power struggles within the Iranian government. The British marines' weapons and boats were confiscated.

*In ], a ] became a major diplomatic crisis between the two nations. It was resolved after thirteen days when the Iranians unexpectedly released the captives under an "amnesty".
The Shatt al-Arab and the forest were depicted in the middle of the coat of arms of the ], from 1932 to 1959.

]
]

Under Shah ] in the late 1960s, Iran developed a strong military and took a more assertive stance in the Near East.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 7"/> In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab and Iranian ships stopped paying tolls to Iraq when they used the Shatt al-Arab.<ref>Karsh, Efraim, ''The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988'', London: Osprey, 2002, pp. 7–8</ref> The Shah argued that the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran because almost all river borders around the world ran along the ''thalweg'', and because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian.<ref>Bulloch, John and Morris, Harvey ''The Gulf War'', London: Methuen, 1989, p. 37.</ref> Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but on 24 April 1969, an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships (]) sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, and Iraq—being the militarily weaker state—did nothing.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/>

All ] attempts to intervene and mediate the dispute were rebuffed. ] claimed the frontier agreed to in 1937 was still the legitimate frontier. In response, Iran in the early 1970s became the main patron of Iraqi Kurdish groups fighting for independence from Iraq. In 1974 with the open encouragement and support of Iran, the Iraqi Kurdish ''peshmerga'' rebelled against Iraq, and instead of waging a guerrilla war, the ''peshmerga'' fought a conventional war against Iraq, leading to very intense fighting.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989, p. 260.</ref> In the winter of 1974–75, Iran and Iraq almost went to war over Iran's support of the Kurds in Iraq (see ]).<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> However, given Iran's greater military strength and population, the Iraqis decided against war, and chose to make concessions to Tehran to end the Kurdish rebellion.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> In March 1975, Vice President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the Shah signed the ] in which Iraq recognized a series of straight lines closely approximating the ''thalweg'' (deepest channel) of the waterway, as the official border, in exchange for which Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurds.<ref name="Abadan"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808213517/http://www.sajed.ir/en/content/view/31/201/ |date=2009-08-08 }}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007084621/http://www.sajed.ir/ |date=7 October 2014 }}, Retrieved on March 16, 2009.</ref> The Algiers Accord was seen as a national humiliation in Iraq, causing much bitterness over what was seen as Iranian bullying.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 8"/> However, the Algiers Accord saw Iran cease supporting the ''peshmerga'' as the Iranians closed the frontier, causing the Kurdish rebellion to promptly collapse.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 298">Brogan, Patrick page 298</ref> The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of the rebels as they could lay their hands on".<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 298"/>

In 1980, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq ] the 1975 treaty and Iraq invaded Iran. The main thrust of the military movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks.<ref name="Abadan"/>

When ] was captured by the Iranians in 1986, Iraq's shipping activities virtually came to a halt and had to be diverted to other Arab ports such as Kuwait and even ], ]. On 17 April 1988, ] Materialized which saw Al-Faw peninsula recaptured after three days of fighting.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57">Karsh, Efraim page 57</ref> After retaking Al-Faw, the Iraqis began a sustained drive to clear the Iranians out of all of southern Iraq.<ref>Brogan, Patrick, p. 264</ref> In May 1988, the Iraqis expelled the Iranians from Salamchech and took ].<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 57"/> During the fighting in the spring of 1988, the Iranians showed all the signs of collapsing morale.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 265">Brogan, Patrick, p. 265</ref> Brogan reported:

{{quote|Reports from the front, both at Faw and outside Basra, indicated that the Iranian resistance was surprisingly weak. The army that had shown such courage and ''élan'' early in the war now broke in a rout, and fled before the Arabs.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 265"/>}}

During the 1988 battles, the Iranians seemed tired and worn out by the nearly eight years of the war, and "put up very little resistance" to the Iraqi offensives.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 253">Brogan, Patrick ''World Conflicts'', London: Bloomsbury, 1989, p. 253.</ref> After the ], both sides agreed to once again treat the Algiers Accord as binding.

===Conflicts===
] city, Iraq]]

====Iranian–Iraqi dispute====
Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the beginning of the ] that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 '']'' was restored. The Iranian cities and major ports of ] and ] and the Iraqi cities and major ports of ] and ] are situated along this river.<ref name="Abadan" />

====Gulf War and Iraq War====
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2022}}
During the ], the waterway was a key military target for the ]. Since it is the only outlet to the Persian Gulf, its capture was important in delivering humanitarian aid to the rest of the country,<ref name="Abadan" /> and stopping the flow of operations trying to break the naval blockade against Iraq.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} The British ] staged an amphibious assault to capture the key oil installations and shipping docks located at ] on the ] at the onset of the conflict.

Following the end of the war, the UK was given responsibility, subsequently mandated by ], to patrol the waterway and the area of the ] surrounding the river mouth. They were tasked until 2007 to make sure that ships in the area were not being used to transport munitions into Iraq. British forces also trained Iraqi naval units to take over the responsibility of guarding their waterways after the ] left Iraq in December 2011.

On two separate occasions, Iranian forces operating on the Shatt al-Arab captured British ] sailors who they claim trespassed into their territory:
* In 2004, several British servicemen were held for ] after purportedly straying into the Iranian side of the waterway. After being initially threatened with prosecution, they were released after high-level conversations between ] ] and Iranian Foreign Minister ]. The initial hardline approach came down to power struggles within the Iranian government. The British marines' weapons and boats were confiscated.
* In 2007, a ] became a major diplomatic crisis between the two nations. It was resolved after thirteen days when the Iranians unexpectedly released the captives under an "amnesty".

==Naming==
The river is also known in Iraq as the Dijla al-Awara (دجلة العوراء) and in Iran as the Arvand Rud (Persian: اروندرود, lit. 'Swift River').

The Persian epic poem '']'' (written between {{circa|977–1010 CE}}) and many other works of ] use the name ''Arvand'' ({{Langx|fa|اروند|label=none}}) for the ], the confluent of the Shatt al-Arab.<ref name="Iranica2">M. Kasheff, '']'': . – Retrieved on 18 October 2007.</ref> Iranians also used this name specifically to designate the Shatt al-Arab during the later ], and continue to do so since the ].<ref name="Iranica2" />


==See also== ==See also==
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] *]
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last1=Dougherty|first1=Beth K.|last2=Ghareeb|first2=Edmund A.|title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0810879423|edition=2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kia|first1=Mehrdad|title=The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia|date=2017|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610693899}}
* {{cite book|last1=Mikaberidze|first1=Alexander|title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1442241466|edition=2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article = SHATT AL-ARAB | last = Potts | first = D. T. | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica | year = 2004 }}
* {{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Stanford|chapter=Iranian Relations with the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries|title=The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 7)|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0857451842|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H20Xt157iYUC&q=1| editor-given1 = Peter | editor-surname1 = Avery | editor-given2 = Gavin | editor-surname2 = Hambly | editor-given3 = Charles | editor-surname3 = Melville }}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons-inline}}
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* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225161007/http://www.archiveeditions.co.uk/titledetails.asp?tid=34 |date=25 December 2018 }}


{{coord|30|24|26|N|48|09|06|E|display=title|region:IQ_type:river_source:dewiki}}

{{Iraq topics}}
{{Districts of Iraq}}
{{Authority control}}

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Latest revision as of 13:20, 20 December 2024

River in Western Asia

Shatt al-Arab
Shatt al-Arab pictured near Basra, Iraq
Drainage basin and two major tributaries
Location
CountryIraq, Iran, Kuwait
Physical characteristics
SourceEuphrates
 • elevation4 m (13 ft)
2nd sourceTigris
 • elevation4 m (13 ft)
Mouth 
 • locationPersian Gulf
 • coordinates30°24′15.59″N 48°09′3.60″E / 30.4043306°N 48.1510000°E / 30.4043306; 48.1510000
 • elevation0 m (0 ft)
Length204 km (127 mi)
Basin size938,173 km (362,231 sq mi) to 884,000 km (341,000 sq mi)
Width 
 • minimum250 m (820 ft)
 • maximum1,500 m (4,900 ft)
Discharge 
 • locationShatt al-Arab Delta, Persian Gulf
 • average(Period: 1971–2000)3,535 m/s (124,800 cu ft/s) (Period: 1977–2018)105.7 km/a (3,350 m/s)
Discharge 
 • locationAbadan, Iran
 • average(Period: 1971–2000)3,531.6 m/s (124,720 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationBasra, Iraq
 • average(Period: 1971–2000)2,782.8 m/s (98,270 cu ft/s)
Discharge 
 • locationAl-Qurnah, Iraq (confluence of Tigris and Euphrates rivers)
 • average(Period: 1971–2000)2,531.8 m/s (89,410 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftTigris, Alswaib canal, Karun
 • rightEuphrates

The Shatt al-Arab (Arabic: شط العرب, lit.'River of the Arabs'; Persian: اروندرود, romanizedArvand Rud, lit.'Swift River') is a river about 200 kilometres (120 mi) in length that is formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the Iran–Iraq border down to its mouth, where it discharges into the Persian Gulf. The Shatt al-Arab varies in width from about 232 metres (761 ft) at Basra to 800 metres (2,600 ft) at its mouth. It is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geological time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west. Kuwait's Bubiyan Island is part of the Shatt al-Arab delta.

The Karun, a tributary which joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river; this necessitates continuous dredging to keep it navigable.

The area used to hold the largest date palm forest in the world. In the mid-1970s, the region included 17–18 million date palms: an estimated one-fifth of the world's 90 million palm trees. However, by 2002, more than 14 million of the palms had been wiped out by the combined factors of war, salt and pests; this count includes around 9 million palms in Iraq and 5 million in Iran. Many of the remaining 3–4 million trees are in poor health.

Geography

Map

The Shatt al-Arab is formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at Al-Qurnah, and flows into the Persian Gulf south of the city of Al-Faw. It receives the Karun at Khorramshahr.

History

3,000 years ago, the Persian Gulf was larger and the Shatt al-Arab had not then formed.

Dispute over the river occurred during the Ottoman-Safavid era, prior to the establishment of an independent Iraq in the 20th century. In the early 16th century, the Iranian Safavids gained most of what is present-day Iraq, including Shatt al-Arab. They later lost these territories to the expanding Ottomans following the Peace of Amasya (1555).

In the early 17th century, the Safavids under king (shah) Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) once again regained Shatt al-Arab. Control of the river was at last permanently ceded to the Ottomans with the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639. Control of the waterway was also temporarily lost by the Safavids to the Ottomans in this treaty. In general, the Treaty of Zuhab roughly re-established the common borders of the Ottomans and Safavid Empires the way they had been in 1555. However, the treaty never demarcated a precise and fixed boundary regarding the frontier in the south.

Later, Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747) succeeded in restoring Iranian control over Shatt al-Arab for a time. With the Treaty of Kerden (1746), however, the Zuhab boundaries were restored, ceding the river to the Turks once again. The First Treaty of Erzurum (1823) concluded between Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran, resulted in the same.

The Second Treaty of Erzurum was signed by Ottoman Turkey and Qajar Iran in 1847 after protracted negotiations, which included British and Russian delegates. Even afterwards, backtracking and disagreements continued, until British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, was moved to comment in 1851 that "the boundary line between Turkey and Persia can never be finally settled except by an arbitrary decision on the part of Great Britain and Russia". A protocol between the Ottomans and the Persians was signed in Istanbul in 1913, which declared that the Ottoman-Persian frontier run along the thalweg, but World War I canceled all plans.

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq 1932–1959 depicting the Shatt and the forest

During the Mandate of Iraq (1920–1932), the British advisors in Iraq were able to keep the waterway binational under the thalweg principle that worked in Europe: the dividing line was a line drawn between the deepest points along the stream bed. In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab. The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of the Shatt al-Arab except at Abadan and Khorramshahr where the frontier ran along the thalweg (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; provided that all ships using the Shatt al-Arab fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt al-Arab. Shah Reza Shah of Iran together with his close friend President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey had been promoting the Saadabad pact intended to protect the neutrality of Muslim nations if the world should be plunged into war again. In return for the Shatt al-Arab treaty, Iraq joined the Saadabad pact and Iranian-Iraqi relations were friendly for decades afterward. The Saadabad pact ultimately brought together Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan in an alliance intended to protect their neutrality. In 1955, both Iran and Iraq were founding members of the Baghdad Pact alliance.

The Shatt al-Arab and the forest were depicted in the middle of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Iraq, from 1932 to 1959.

Arab ferryman on the Shatt al-Arab 1958
Evening atmosphere on the Shatt al-Arab

Under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the late 1960s, Iran developed a strong military and took a more assertive stance in the Near East. In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab and Iranian ships stopped paying tolls to Iraq when they used the Shatt al-Arab. The Shah argued that the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran because almost all river borders around the world ran along the thalweg, and because most of the ships that used the Shatt al-Arab were Iranian. Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but on 24 April 1969, an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships (Joint Operation Arvand) sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, and Iraq—being the militarily weaker state—did nothing. The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975.

All United Nations attempts to intervene and mediate the dispute were rebuffed. Baathist Iraq claimed the frontier agreed to in 1937 was still the legitimate frontier. In response, Iran in the early 1970s became the main patron of Iraqi Kurdish groups fighting for independence from Iraq. In 1974 with the open encouragement and support of Iran, the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga rebelled against Iraq, and instead of waging a guerrilla war, the peshmerga fought a conventional war against Iraq, leading to very intense fighting. In the winter of 1974–75, Iran and Iraq almost went to war over Iran's support of the Kurds in Iraq (see 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict). However, given Iran's greater military strength and population, the Iraqis decided against war, and chose to make concessions to Tehran to end the Kurdish rebellion. In March 1975, Vice President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and the Shah signed the Algiers Accord in which Iraq recognized a series of straight lines closely approximating the thalweg (deepest channel) of the waterway, as the official border, in exchange for which Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurds. The Algiers Accord was seen as a national humiliation in Iraq, causing much bitterness over what was seen as Iranian bullying. However, the Algiers Accord saw Iran cease supporting the peshmerga as the Iranians closed the frontier, causing the Kurdish rebellion to promptly collapse. The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of the rebels as they could lay their hands on".

In 1980, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq abrogated the 1975 treaty and Iraq invaded Iran. The main thrust of the military movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks.

When Al-Faw peninsula was captured by the Iranians in 1986, Iraq's shipping activities virtually came to a halt and had to be diverted to other Arab ports such as Kuwait and even Aqaba, Jordan. On 17 April 1988, Operation Ramadan Mubarak Materialized which saw Al-Faw peninsula recaptured after three days of fighting. After retaking Al-Faw, the Iraqis began a sustained drive to clear the Iranians out of all of southern Iraq. In May 1988, the Iraqis expelled the Iranians from Salamchech and took Majnun Island. During the fighting in the spring of 1988, the Iranians showed all the signs of collapsing morale. Brogan reported:

Reports from the front, both at Faw and outside Basra, indicated that the Iranian resistance was surprisingly weak. The army that had shown such courage and élan early in the war now broke in a rout, and fled before the Arabs.

During the 1988 battles, the Iranians seemed tired and worn out by the nearly eight years of the war, and "put up very little resistance" to the Iraqi offensives. After the Iran–Iraq War, both sides agreed to once again treat the Algiers Accord as binding.

Conflicts

Shatt al-Arab near Basra city, Iraq

Iranian–Iraqi dispute

Conflicting territorial claims and disputes over navigation rights between Iran and Iraq were among the main factors for the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, when the pre-1980 status quo was restored. The Iranian cities and major ports of Abadan and Khorramshahr and the Iraqi cities and major ports of Basra and Al-Faw are situated along this river.

Gulf War and Iraq War

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During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the waterway was a key military target for the coalition forces. Since it is the only outlet to the Persian Gulf, its capture was important in delivering humanitarian aid to the rest of the country, and stopping the flow of operations trying to break the naval blockade against Iraq. The British Royal Marines staged an amphibious assault to capture the key oil installations and shipping docks located at Umm Qasr on the al-Faw peninsula at the onset of the conflict.

Following the end of the war, the UK was given responsibility, subsequently mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723, to patrol the waterway and the area of the Persian Gulf surrounding the river mouth. They were tasked until 2007 to make sure that ships in the area were not being used to transport munitions into Iraq. British forces also trained Iraqi naval units to take over the responsibility of guarding their waterways after the Coalition Forces left Iraq in December 2011.

On two separate occasions, Iranian forces operating on the Shatt al-Arab captured British Royal Navy sailors who they claim trespassed into their territory:

  • In 2004, several British servicemen were held for two days after purportedly straying into the Iranian side of the waterway. After being initially threatened with prosecution, they were released after high-level conversations between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. The initial hardline approach came down to power struggles within the Iranian government. The British marines' weapons and boats were confiscated.
  • In 2007, a seizure of fifteen more British personnel became a major diplomatic crisis between the two nations. It was resolved after thirteen days when the Iranians unexpectedly released the captives under an "amnesty".

Naming

The river is also known in Iraq as the Dijla al-Awara (دجلة العوراء) and in Iran as the Arvand Rud (Persian: اروندرود, lit. 'Swift River').

The Persian epic poem Shahnameh (written between c. 977–1010 CE) and many other works of Middle Persian literature use the name Arvand (اروند) for the Tigris, the confluent of the Shatt al-Arab. Iranians also used this name specifically to designate the Shatt al-Arab during the later Pahlavi period, and continue to do so since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

See also

References

  1. ^ Reinink-Smith, Linda; Carter, Robert (2022). "Late Holocene development of Bubiyan Island, Kuwait". Quaternary Research. 109: 16–38. Bibcode:2022QuRes.109...16R. doi:10.1017/qua.2022.3. S2CID 248250022.
  2. "Global Climate Change Impacts on Tigris Euphrates Rivers Basins" (PDF). p. 55.
  3. ^ Safaa, Al-Asadi; Abdulzahra, Alhello (2019). "General assessment of Shatt Al-Arab River, Iraq". International Journal of Water. 13: 360-375. doi:10.1504/IJW.2019.106049.
  4. ^ "Tigris Euphrates Delta-Coastal".
  5. "Shatt al Arab". Oxford Public International Law. Retrieved 23 April 2022. The Shatt al Arab river (or Arvand Rud in Persian) is the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), which starts in the Iraqi town of Al-Qornah and after circa 120 miles flows into the Persian Gulf.
  6. "Iraq – Major Geographical Features". country-data.com. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  7. "UNEP/GRID-Sioux Falls". unep.net. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  8. Mikaberidze 2015, p. xxxi.
  9. Dougherty & Ghareeb 2013, p. 681.
  10. Shaw 1991, p. 309.
  11. Marschall, Christin (2003). Iran's Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami. Routledge. pp. 1–272. ISBN 978-1134429905.
  12. Kia 2017, p. 21.
  13. Potts 2004.
  14. ^ Karsh, Efraim The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002 page 7
  15. ^ Karsh, Efraim The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002 page 8
  16. Karsh, Efraim The Iran–Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002 page7
  17. Karsh, Efraim, The Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988, London: Osprey, 2002, pp. 7–8
  18. Bulloch, John and Morris, Harvey The Gulf War, London: Methuen, 1989, p. 37.
  19. Brogan, Patrick World Conflicts, London: Bloomsbury, 1989, p. 260.
  20. ^ Abadan Archived 2009-08-08 at the Wayback Machine, Sajed Archived 7 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on March 16, 2009.
  21. ^ Brogan, Patrick page 298
  22. ^ Karsh, Efraim page 57
  23. Brogan, Patrick, p. 264
  24. ^ Brogan, Patrick, p. 265
  25. Brogan, Patrick World Conflicts, London: Bloomsbury, 1989, p. 253.
  26. ^ M. Kasheff, Encyclopædia Iranica: Arvand-Rud. – Retrieved on 18 October 2007.

Sources

  • Dougherty, Beth K.; Ghareeb, Edmund A. (2013). Historical Dictionary of Iraq (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810879423.
  • Kia, Mehrdad (2017). The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1610693899.
  • Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1442241466.
  • Potts, D. T. (2004). "SHATT AL-ARAB". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  • Shaw, Stanford (1991). "Iranian Relations with the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries". In Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles (eds.). The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol. 7). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0857451842.

External links

Media related to Shatt al-Arab at Wikimedia Commons

30°24′26″N 48°09′06″E / 30.40722°N 48.15167°E / 30.40722; 48.15167

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