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SETTLEMENT OF SUBMARINE BOUNDARY DISPUTES 355 I

Article 3 recognises the British Admiralty chart No. 2847 as a
basis for the delimitation of the Bahrain-Iran boundary line.
Article 4 states that the arrangements contained in the Agreement
shall not affect “the status of the superjacent waters or air-space
above any part of the continental shelf”.
Article 5 provides for the ratification of the Agreement and for the
exchange of instruments of ratification in Tehran. In accordance
with these provisions, the Agreement entered into force on 14 May
1972.
The Bahrain-Iran continental shelf Agreement is based on the
equidistance principle. All its four points (Points 1-4) are connected
by straight line segments.
Conclusion
The Bahrain-Iran boundary line starts from the undefined Point
(1) of the Qatar-Iran boundary line, and extends in an
eastern-northern direction until it meets, at the end of Point (4), with
the northern terminus of the Bahrain-Saudi Arabia boundary line of
1958. The indefinite or “unknown” Point (1) of the Qatar-Iran
boundary line is linked to Point (2) of that line, at an angle of 278
degrees 14 minutes 27 seconds, by a geodetic demarcation line. i
Article 1 of the Bahrain-Iran Agreement defines Point (1) of the
continental shelf boundary appertaining to Bahrain by reference to
Point (2) of the Qatar-Iran boundary line. Accordingly, Point (1) of
the Bahrain-Iran boundary line is described as having “. . . a
geodetic azimuth of 278 degrees, 14 minutes, 27seconds, with a I
boundary line dividing the continental shelf appertaining to Bahrain
and Qatar”. (Art. I).2
The location of Point (1) of the Qatar-Iran boundary line is
indefinite “because there is a question of where a potential
Bahrain-Qatar continental shelf boundary would intersect the
Iran-Qatar” boundary line. 3 »
One of the main features of the Bahrain-Iran Agreement is that,
contrary to the principle of equidistance, it has given full effect to
the islands of Nakhilu and Jabrin, on the Iranian side, in drawing the
median line which divides the continental shelf between Bahrain
and Iran. i
Similarly, on the Bahraini side of the line, Muharraq, the second
biggest island connected with the mainland by a causeway, has been i.
considered as an island rather than part of the Bahrain mainland.
In their proposals on the Bahrain-Iran seabed boundary, the
1. Department of State, The Geographer, No. 25, op. cit, p. 2.
2. See Appendix No. 18.
3. Department of State, The Geographer, No. 25, op. cit.