oil reserves and a large role in OPEC and its policies. Despite Kuwait's oil wealth it was already a wealthy country. If it came down to it Kuwait could survive without its oil revenue because of all its investments. In 1990 when the price of oil started dropping Iraq was in real trouble. At an OPEC meeting in May 1990, Iraq stressed their anger about Kuwait's over production of oil. On Baghdad Radio it was reported that Saddam Hussein stated that the continuing of over production of oil and its effect on oil prices was a so-called war on Iraq. Iran supported Iraq when they requested that the minimum price of oil was set to $25 per barrel, which was $14 at the time. OPEC eventually agreed to $21 per barrel of oil. After the agreement it was assumed that the Iraqi-Kuwaiti dispute was over. But that assumption was wrong.
             There were disputes over the land boundaries and Kuwait's right to stay an independent state. The UK granted Kuwait independence in 1961. The Iraqis felt that in 1871 when Kuwait became part of the Ottoman providence it belonged to them when Iraq was created by joining the Ottoman providences of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. However, there were some issues that Kuwait was not taking into consideration such as when Kuwait was detached from the Ottoman Empire in 1899 by the UK. The disputes over land boundaries were mostly about access to the sea and the islands of Warba and Babiyan. The northern borders of Kuwait and Iraq followed the line of the UK-Ottoman Convention of 1913. This is when Kuwait was also given the two islands. The northwestern and western borders were specified in the Iraqi-Kuwaiti Convention of 1932. Iraq's access to the sea was blocked by lan
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