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Iraq and Kuwait agreed to establish a joint working group to review outstanding bilateral issues and produce a roadmap with recommendations for their leaders within 30 days according to a joint statement issued by the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office and reported by Shafaq News. The pact followed a meeting between Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi and Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly session in New York. The group will convene alternately in Baghdad and Kuwait until it fulfills its mandate while both governments pledged full support for its efforts to strengthen cooperation and address pending files.
Shafaq News reported that key matters expected to come before the team include regulation of navigation in Khor Abdullah and completion of maritime border demarcation beyond marker 162. The 2012 agreement on the shared waterway which provides Iraq’s only sea access to the Gulf has remained contentious since the Federal Supreme Court ruled its parliamentary ratification unconstitutional in 2023. In February 2026 Iraq submitted maritime coordinates and a map to the United Nations prompting a formal protest from Kuwait according to Shafaq News accounts of the dispute’s recent history.
The Popular Movement Against the Khor Abdullah Agreement in Basra has actively pushed for the issue to gain prominence in talks with Kuwait. According to Shafaq News the movement issued statements demanding that the federal government issue a clear response to protest notes submitted by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over Iraq’s approved maritime borders. Movement representatives insisted that the country’s borders waters and resources are not subject to negotiation or concession and urged Baghdad to exercise its sovereign rights through diplomatic channels.
In an August 2026 press conference covered by Shafaq News the Basra group warned that Kuwaiti development projects near the Tuwaynah gas field also known as Dorra could create facts on the ground before maritime claims are settled. The movement called for a national team of diplomatic legal and technical experts to document Iraq’s position and engage international forums while avoiding escalation. Protests organized by the group in Basra have repeatedly described the 2012 agreement as a violation of national sovereignty according to multiple Shafaq News dispatches from the province.
Khor Abdullah links Iraq’s major southern ports including Umm Qasr and the developing Grand Al-Faw facility to international shipping lanes a Shafaq News background report on the waterway noted. Regional economic assessments have placed annual trade and oil transport through the channel at more than 40 billion dollars with roughly 500 vessels moving monthly. Kuwait has invested heavily in the competing Mubarak al-Kabeer port on Bubiyan Island which depends on coordinated use of the same waters.
The original border framework traces to United Nations Security Council Resolution 833 of 1993 which the 2012 navigation pact sought to implement. A majority of Iraqi lawmakers backed the 2023 court decision with 194 parliamentarians signing a petition in support according to statements carried by Shafaq News. The newly formed joint team now holds a mandate to tackle these accumulated legal technical and historical dimensions within the agreed timetable.
