%0 Journal Article %T The Continental Shelf in the Southern Neighborhood %J Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs %I Institute for Strategic Research, Department of Foreign Affairs %Z 20088221 %A Omidi, Ali %A Mohammadi, Arefeh %D 2016 %\ 07/01/2016 %V 7 %N 24 %P 85-110 %! The Continental Shelf in the Southern Neighborhood %R %X The Persian Gulf has an outstanding place in global geopolitics and is regarded as the most important source of consumed oil and natural gas on a global scale. Until today, the marine borders of Iran with the three countries of Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are undetermined. This has resulted in procrastination of materialization of the economic potentials and non-extraction of hydrocarbon resources from the four countries continental shelf resources and their exposure to political tensions. The aim of this study is to explain the most important legal challenge facing the Persian Gulf continental shelf and the role played by the political and territorial disagreements in hindering the establishment of the outer limits of this continental shelf. The primary question is: what are the main factors contributing to indetermination of the continental shelf borders between Iran and the three countries of Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab emirates? The methodology is descriptive and analytical using internet and archival resources. We concluded that the continental shelf legal system prescribes the bisecting line to determine the boundaries and in case of its non-viability common exploitation is advised. In case of the Iranian continental shelf, the geopolitical differences as well as tense political history of relations between Iran and the three states of Kuwait, Iraq and UAE has postponed the determination outer lines. This is in part a consequence of the failure to agree on the borders’ base lines by the four countries which is in turn a political rather than legal issue. The time period that the research covers is from the early days of the Islamic revolution in 1979 until 2017. %U