Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone
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The Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone was an area of 7,044 km² on the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq within which the border between the two countries had not been settled. The Treaty of Muhammarah (Khorramshahr) of May 5, 1922, forestalled the imminent conflict between Great Britain, which held the mandate for Iraq, and the Kingdom of Nejd, which later became Saudi Arabia (when combined with the Kingdom of Hejaz). The treaty specifically avoided defining boundaries. Following further negotiations, the Protocol of Uqair (Uqayr), December 2, 1922, defined most of the borders between them and created the neutral zone. The 1922 agreement determines that the neutral zone will be equally exploited and governed by Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia for all eternity.
No military or permanent buildings were to be built in the neutral zone and the nomads of both countries were to have unimpeded access to its pastures and wells. A further agreement concerning the administration of the neutral zone was signed between Iraq and Saudi Arabia in May 1938.
Administrative division of the zone was achieved in 1975, and a border treaty concluded in 1981 and ratified by 1983. For unknown reasons the treaty was not filed with the United Nations and nobody outside Iraq and Saudi Arabia was officially notified or shown the text giving the new map coordinates. As confrontation with the allied forces loomed early in 1991, Iraq cancelled all international undertakings entered into with Saudi Arabia since 1968. Saudi Arabia responded by registering all previous boundary agreements negotiated with Iraq at the United Nations in June of 1991. Thus ended the legal existence of the Saudi-Iraqi neutral zone.
The Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone formerly had the ISO 3166-1 codes NT and NTZ. These codes were discontinued in 1993. There was also a similar Saudi-Kuwaiti neutral zone (also established in the 1920s); however, this latter zone was never assigned an ISO 3166 code as it was effectively partitioned in 1969, before the adoption of ISO 3166 in 1974.
Iraqi withdrawal of recognition of the previous agreement still applies, as the new government has not as yet reaffirmed the treaty. The United States Office of The Geographer still regard the area as only having a de facto boundary, rather than a de jure one, with an estimated line being drawn approximately through the centre of the territory on official maps. Although the United Nations have registered the boundary agreement, Iraq and Saudi Arabia's opinion on the border is, at least in a legal sense, different.
