Sanctions against Iraq Sanctions against Iraq The sanctions against Iraq were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Ba'athist Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 (after Saddam Hussein's being forced from power), and persisted in part, including reparations to Kuwait, through the present. The original stated purposes of the sanctions were to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, to pay reparations, and to disclose and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction. Initially the UN Security Council imposed stringent economic sanctions on Iraq
Iraq–Kuwait barrier Iraq–Kuwait barrier The Iraq–Kuwait barrier ( "Hudud al-'Irāq-al-Kuwayt") is a border fence extending six miles (10 km) into Iraq, three miles (5 km) into Kuwait, and across the full length of their mutual border from Saudi Arabia to the Persian Gulf. Constructed by authorization of the United Nations Security Council, its stated purpose was to stop a re-invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. The border barrier, made of electrified fencing and concertina wire, is braced by a -wide and -deep trench, complete with a -high dirt berm and guarded by hundreds of soldiers, several patrol boats, and helicopters. Construction of the