THE IMPACT OF MUBARAK AL KABEER(GRAND) PORT PROJECT IN 2011 ON THE IRAQI-KUWAITI CONTEMPORARY RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

Iraqi-Kuwaiti relationship was distinguished of being unstable and having much tension from time to time, especially after 1958, the relationship was instable during the declaration of Kuwait independence in 1961 per international agreements in the demarcation of the borders between the two countries. Furthermore, Iraq demanded to subjugate Kuwait to Iraqi lands. The relationship described in this phase as to be apathy in light of the Kuwaiti rejection of the Iraqi demands, but they did not reach the stage of the conflict, as a result of the internal political developments that Iraq witnessed during the 1960s, as well as the political developments in the Arab Gulf region after the British withdrawal in 1971, and the escalation of US military influence in the Arab Gulf region. The relationships between Iraq and Kuwait did not witness more complicated political developments due to the outbreak of the war between  Iran and Iraq in the period 1980-1988. In  1989 the Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. In the next year,  in August 1990 the second Gulf War took place. This war led to the international sanctions against Iraq which were escalated due to the conflict. In the wake of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 and then US military withdrawal from Iraqi lands in 2011, Kuwait sought to suffocate Iraq economically by preventing Iraq to obtain a seaport that would achieve great economic gains for Iraq, so the establishing Mubarak project harmed the Iraqi Al Faw Grand Port project.