GCC countries, US call for demarcation of Kuwaiti-Iraqi maritime borders

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens to Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi as they attend a breakfast with the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council Nations, Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in New York, U.S. Craig Ruttle/Pool via REUTERS/file photo

KUWAIT (Reuters) -Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the United States on Wednesday called for the complete demarcation of Kuwaiti-Iraqi maritime borders, as a ruling by Iraq's top court could upend more than a decade-old maritime agreement between them.

Tensions have been rising between Kuwait and Iraq after the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled on an agreement regulating navigation in the Khor Abdullah waterway between the two states as unconstitutional. The court said the law that ratified the accord should have been approved by two thirds of parliament.