The Persian Gulf is a large inland sea in the Southwest Asian region. It is an extension of the Gulf of Oman located between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula. It connects to the Arabian Sea through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman which in turn connects it to the Indian Ocean.
The Persian Gulf was the focus of the Iraq-Iran War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, with each side attacking the other's oil tankers. In 1991, the Persian Gulf again was the background for what was called the "Persian Gulf War" or "The Gulf War" when Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back, despite the fact that this conflict was primarily a land conflict.
The natural environment of the Persian Gulf is very rich with good fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs and abundant pearl oysters. However, its ecology has become increasingly under pressure from the heavy industrialisation and in particular the repeated major petroleum spillages associated with recent wars fought in the region.
The Persian Gulf has an area of around 233,000 km². It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz and its western end is marked by the major river delta of Arvandrud, which carries the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris.
It has a total length of around 989 kilometres. It separates Iran from Saudi Arabia with the shortest divide distance of about 56 kilometres in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are overall very shallow and have a maximum depth of 90 metres and an average depth of 50 metres.
Countries with a coastline on the Persian Gulf are (clockwise, from the north): Iran, Oman (exclave of Musandam), United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar on a peninsula off the Saudi coast, Bahrain on an island, Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf.
