Page 360 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

296 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
/ran-Neutral Zone: In the summer of 1966, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia participated in discussions connected with the problem of
demarcating the border of the continental shelf contiguous to the
opposite coasts of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone and Iran.
The discussions, which centred around the problem of measuring the
median line dividing the Iranian offshore areas from the Neutral
Zone offshore areas, proved to be inconclusive. The main obstacle
in the way of measuring the Neutral Zone offshore median line is the
interception of some offshore islands on both sides of the Gulf
coasts. As a result, differences have arisen between the parties con-
cerncd on the extent to which these offshore islands could be con-
sidered for the purpose of fixing the baseline from which the Neutral
Zone-Iran median line could be measured.1

Kuwait-Saudi Arabia: Neutral Zone Offshore Boundary: The problem
of the delimitation of the ‘north-eastern boundary separating the
Neutral Zone offshore from that of Kuwait' remains to be solved.2

(c) The problem of islands: the status of Kubr, Qaru and U/mn al-
Maradim
The island of Kubr lies off the coast of Kuwait proper, while the
islands of Qaru and Umm al-Maradim are situated off the coast of
the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone. Although there appears to
be no dispute over Kuwaiti full sovereignty over the island of Kubr,
the position with regard to the other two islands is somewhat different,
since their status has been subject to a long-standing dispute between
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Basically, Kuwait claims the islands to be
100 per cent Kuwaiti islands while Saudi Arabia considers them to be
subject to the same co-sovereignty status of the Neutral Zone. In the
past, the United Kingdom, which was until 1961 responsible for the
conduct of the foreign relations of Kuwait, had entertained the view
that the islands of Qaru and Umm al-Maradim did not form part of
the Neutral Zone offshore on the ground that they were not subject

mainland by pipeline). In earlier talks the Kuwaitis were understood to have offered
to accept this, provided that the Iranians agreed to acknowledge equivalent status
for the island of Failaka off the Kuwait coast. .Sec MEES, No. 8, 24 December
1965; ibid., No. 20,18 March, and No. 22, 1 April 1966. It is suggested above at
p. 290 that islands lying within the limits of the territorial sea could be considered
as base points for determining the Gulf median line. However, the problem
becomes more difficult with Kuwait, since Iran and Kuwait do not adopt a
uniform belt of territorial sea. See above, p. 281. In the Iran-Saudi Arabia agree­
ment of 1965, the problem of ‘Khark’ has been solved by giving half-weight
status’ to the island. See below, p. 310. ,
1 See MEES, No. 37, 15 July, No. 36, 8 July, and No. 26, 26 August 1966.
2 MEES, No. 32, 10 June 1966.