Kuwait )[5][6] (Arabic: ‫ الكويت‬al-Kuwait, Gulf Arabic pronunciation: [ɪl‿ɪkweːt] or [lɪkweːt]), officially

the State of Kuwait(Arabic: ‫ دولة الكويت‬Dawlat al-Kuwait), is a country in Western Asia.

Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares
borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.2 million
people; 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 2.9 million are expatriates. [7] Expatriates account for 70%
of the population.[8]
Oil reserves were discovered in 1938. From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale
modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an
economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. The
Iraqi occupation came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by coalition forces. At the
end of the war, there were extensive efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national
infrastructure.
Kuwait is a constitutional state with a semi-democratic political system. It has a high income
economy backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest
valued currency in the world.[9] According to the World Bank, the country has the
fourth highest per capita income in the world. The Constitution was promulgated in 1962.[10][11]
[12]
Kuwait is widely considered the "Hollywood of the Gulf" due to the popularity of its soap
operas and theatre. Kuwait is home to the largest opera house in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia[b] (/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbiə/ ( listen), /ˌsaʊ-/ ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia (KSA),[c] is an Arab sovereign state in Western Asia constituting the bulk of
the Arabian Peninsula. With a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi),
Saudi Arabia is geographically the fifth-largest state in Asia and second-largest state in
the Arab world after Algeria. Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the
north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the
east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated
from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba. It is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast
and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains.
The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four distinct
regions: Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia (Al-Ahsa) and Southern Arabia ('Asir).[7] The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud. He united the four regions into a
single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the
ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute
monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines.[8][9] The
ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called "the
predominant feature of Saudi culture", with its global spread largely financed by the oil and
gas trade.[8][9] Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "the Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in
reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (in Medina), the two
holiest places in Islam. The state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million
are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners.[10] The state's official language is Arabic.
Petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in
the Eastern Province.[11] Saudi Arabia has since become the world's largest oil producer
and exporter, controlling the world's second largest oil reserves and the sixth largest gas
reserves.[12] The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a
high Human Development Index[13] and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major
economies.[14] However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf
Cooperation Council, lacking any significant service or production sector (apart from the
extraction of resources).[15] The state has attracted criticism for its treatment of
women and use of capital punishment.[16] Saudi Arabia is a monarchical autocracy,[17][18] has
the fourth highest military expenditure in the world[19][20] and SIPRI found that Saudi Arabia
was the world's second largest arms importer in 2010–2014. [21] Saudi Arabia is considered
a regional and middle power.[22] In addition to the GCC, it is an active member of
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC.[23]
Iran (/ɪˈrɑːn/ ( listen), also /ɪˈræn/;[10][11] Persian: ‫ ايران‬Irān [ʔiːˈɾɒːn] ( listen)), also known
as Persia[12] (/ˈpɜːrʒə/),[13] officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: ‫جماهوری اسلمای‬
‫ ايران‬Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān ( listen)),[14] is a sovereign state in Western Asia.[15][16] It is
bordered to the northwest by Armenia, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the exclave of Nakhchivan; to the north by
the Caspian Sea; to the northeast by Turkmenistan; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan;
to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq.
With over 79.92 million inhabitants (as of March 2017), Iran is the world's 18th-most-
populous country.[17] Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2(636,372 sq mi), it is the
second-largest country in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world. It is the only
country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The country's central
location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, give
it geostrategic importance.[18] Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its
leading economic and cultural center.
Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations,[19][20] beginning with the formation of
the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Iranian Medes in
the seventh century BC,[21] and reached its greatest extent during the Achaemenid
Empire founded by Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BC, stretching from Eastern
Europe to the Indus Valley, becoming a larger empire than previously ever existed in the
world.[22] The Iranian realm fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC, but
reemerged shortly after as the Parthian Empire, followed by the Sasanian Empire, which
became a leading world power for the next four centuries. [23][24]
Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century AD, ultimately leading to
the displacement of the indigenous faiths of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism with Islam.
Iran made major contributions to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many
influential figures in art and science. After two centuries, a period of various native Muslim
dynasties began, which were later conquered by the Turks and the Mongols. The rise of
the Safavids in the 15th century led to the reestablishment of a unified Iranian state and
national identity,[4] which followed the country's conversion to Shia Islam, marking a turning
point in Iranian and Muslim history.[5][25] By the 18th century, under Nader Shah, Iran briefly
possessed what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time. [26] The 19th-century
conflicts with the Russian Empire led to significant territorial losses.[27][28] Popular unrest
culminated in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a constitutional
monarchy and the country's first legislature. Following a coup instigated by the United
Kingdom and the United States in 1953, Iran gradually became closely aligned with the
West, and grew increasingly autocratic.[29] Growing dissent against foreign influence and
political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, which followed the establishment of
an Islamic republic,[30] a political system which includes elements of a parliamentary
democracy vetted and supervised by a theocracy governed by an autocratic "Supreme
Leader".[31] During the 1980s, the country was engaged in a war with Iraq, which lasted for
almost nine years and resulted in a high number of casualties and financial loss for both
sides.