Persian Gulf War  Persian Gulf States Table of Contents  On
August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait. On
February 26, 1991, United States-led coalition forces restored
Kuwaiti sovereignty. These paired events represented both the
failure and the success of Kuwait's foreign policy.  The primary
impetus for the invasion lay in the dynamics of internal Iraqi
politics--economic and political concerns after the long,
debilitating, and ultimately unsuccessful Iran-Iraq War.
However, economic and political relations between Iraq and
Kuwait provided the context for conflict.  Iraq's first
financial disagreement with Kuwait related to oil policy. Iraq
objected to Kuwait's production beyond OPEC quotas and the
consequent contribution that overproduction made to lowering oil
prices internationally. Iraq also claimed Kuwait was siphoning
oil from the shared Ar Rumaylah oil field straddling the Iraq-
Kuwait border. During the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq ceased production
from its side of the field while Kuwait cont