THE LAND BOUNDARY BETWEEN IRAN AND IRAQ IS POORLY DEFINED AND HAS OVER THE YEARS BEEN A SOURCE OF HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000600010021-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: October 7, 1980
• Content Type: MISC

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/25: CIA-RDP08C01297R000600010021-4
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The land boundary between Iran and Iraq is poorly defined and
has over the years been a source of hostility between the two sides.
As early as 1932, disputes over water rights and land holdings exacerbated
the problem.
The pre-1975 border dispute in the central border area was confined
to a 130-mile strip of territory. The width of the controversial
strip was not extensive. Bounded by Khanaquin and Qasr-e-Shirin on
the north and Badra and mehran on the south, the disputed portions were
only about 2 miles in many places, about 10 miles in the largest salient,
and 3 to 6 miles at the north and south extremities. The territory,
mostly mountainous and hilly, was not of any particular economic value
since it contained no oil fields, oil pipelines, industrial cities,
large towns, significant transportation networks or dense rural population.
Just after the Algiers Accord and the subsequent June 1975
Baghdad Treaty were signed, according to American Embassy Tehran
sources, there was still considerable confusion over territorial adjust-
ments along the land border. Over the years prior to 1975, Iran had
apparently encroached on Iraqi territory--in some cases as far as
14 kilometers. After the signing of the Accord, Iran appeared reluctant
to give up these areas as they contained strategic terrain and in some
cases Iranian-built roads. Before the current outbreak of hostilities,'
Iran had apparently not returned these territories.
In October 1976, according to an American Embassy Tehran cable, an
Iranian source said that the Iranians were preparing for minor exchanges
of as much as 10-15 kilometers along the central border west and southwest
of the city of Ilam and north of Mehran. We do not-know that any
exchanges took place as a result. This area is apparently inhabited by
Kurdis -speaking tribes who led an isolated existence behind the
mountains until the building of a wide road a few years before for
military purposes.
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Iraq apparently raised no official protest while the Shah was in
power, probably expecting that the Iranians would eventually fulfill
that portion of the Accord.
To our knowledge, the agreement concerning the Shatt al Arab
was honored by both sides while the Shah was on the throne.
Since Khomeini's rise to power, both sides have violated the
provision of the Accord concerning the meddling in each others'
internal affairs.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/01/25: CIA-RDP08C01297R000600010021-4