Shatt al-Arab

Shatt al-Arab

Shatt al-Arab is a river in southeastern Iraq, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the town of Al-Qurnah. It flows southeast, passing through the Iraqi port of Basra and the Iranian port of Abadan, before emptying into the Persian Gulf, covering a total distance of about 193 kilometers. The eastern bank of the latter half of its waterway forms the border between Iraq and Iran; on the eastern bank (Iranian side), it receives the Karun River, which brings a large amount of sediment into the Shatt al-Arab, necessitating frequent dredging to allow the passage of shallow-draft oceangoing ships.

The width of the Shatt al-Arab expands from around 37 meters at Basra to 0.8 kilometers at the mouth. Along the inhabited riverbanks are groves of date palms, naturally irrigated by the tides. The current shape of the river is likely relatively recent, but its form is unstable. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers once flowed into the Persian Gulf via a slightly more western channel, and the currently lower course of the Shatt al-Arab may have once been part of the Karun River. In the 1980s, the Shatt al-Arab was a battleground between Iraq and Iran; in the second half of 1980, Iraq invaded Iran after claiming sovereignty over both banks of the river.