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Cases / War and military activity · Iran · 1990–2013

UN Compensation Commission "F4" environmental claims by Iran for the 1990–91 Gulf War

Nature's voice · report
Pollutants from the 1991 Kuwait oil fires reached some parts of my Iranian territory, and my Persian Gulf waters were exposed to the oil spill, the F4 Panel found in 2001.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 self-reported only · 1 not measured · 7 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Whether, and how much, smoke and oil from Kuwait reached Iran
  • Government and regulators Government of Iran: Said over 280,000 tons of toxic pollutants were deposited on Iranian territory and millions of barrels of crude oil were released into the Gulf (as summarised by the Panel). United Nations Compensation Commission
  • Government and regulators Government of Iraq: Said Iran failed to show direct damage, that the plume rarely reached Iranian territory, that the Kuwait slick did not reach the Iranian coast and that no sampling was done in Iran in 1991 (as summarised by the Panel). United Nations Compensation Commission
  • International bodies UNCC F4 Panel: Found ample evidence that pollutants from the Kuwait oil fires reached some parts of Iran and that Iran's territory was exposed to the Gulf oil spill, and did not accept most of the claimed damage. United Nations Compensation Commission
Cause of the 1991 crop losses and the price basis for valuing them
  • Government and regulators Government of Iraq: Said reduced rainfall, late rains, frost and disease could explain the 1991 crop losses and that local producer prices should be used instead of market prices. United Nations Compensation Commission
  • International bodies UNCC F4 Panel: Accepted that crop yields fell in 1991 "at least in part, a direct result" of the invasion and occupation, and recalculated the loss using FAO 1991 local producer prices and a productivity variable. United Nations Compensation Commission
Attribution of marine and coastal contamination on the central Bushehr coast

Iran filed environmental claims with the UN Compensation Commission for smoke, oil and refugee-related damage it said reached its south and south-west from the 1990–91 Gulf War. The F4 Panel recommended awards in four instalments; most of the long-term remediation claims received no award.

USD 27,780,752 vs USD 11,090,762,249Fifth instalment (2005): amount recommended against amount claimed
Figures as stated in report S/AC.26/2005/10 (Table 7) and Governing Council Decision 248; the other instalments are listed in the metrics.

Status As of 2 May 2013 (Decision 270): Iran's two follow-up projects were completed and the Follow-up Programme was closed for Iran.

What?
Iran claimed compensation from the UNCC for environmental damage it attributed to the 1991 Kuwait oil fires, Gulf oil releases and refugees; the Panel recommended USD 17,007,070, USD 67,587, USD 188,760 and USD 27,780,752 in four instalments and made no award on most remediation claims. United Nations Compensation Commission
Where?
Bushehr, Fars, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Kerman and Kohgiloyeh provinces, the central Bushehr coast and the Nayband Bay mangrove forest in Iran; the oil fires originated in Kuwait. United Nations Compensation Commission
When?
Damage period 2 August 1990 – 2 March 1991 and the 1991 fires and spills; instalments decided 2001–2005; Programme closed for Iran on 2 May 2013. United Nations Compensation Commission
Who?
Gained
Lost
  • Government of Iraq — Respondent to the claims; awards were paid from the Compensation Fund financed by a share of Iraq's oil-export revenue United Nations Compensation Commission
  • Government of Iran — Claims for groundwater (USD 527,904,400), marine (USD 373,590,708), revegetation (USD 209,808,831) and fisheries (USD 161,000,000) received no award United Nations Compensation Commission
Harmed
Why?
Iran attributed the damage to Iraq's detonation of Kuwait's oil wells, the oil released into the Gulf and the arrival of refugees with livestock; the UNCC process held Iraq liable for losses from the invasion and occupation. United Nations Compensation Commission
How?
The F4 Panel examined Iran's claims instalment by instalment; the Governing Council approved the recommendations; the Follow-up Programme withheld 15 per cent of the awards in its scope until Iran's two projects were completed. United Nations Compensation Commission
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Iran filed claims with the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) in its "F4" environmental category for damage and loss of natural resources that it said reached its territory and coast from the 1991 Kuwait oil-well fires, the oil released into the Persian Gulf and refugees who arrived with livestock. The damage period claimed ran from 2 August 1990 to 2 March 1991 for the refugee arrivals, together with the 1991 oil fires and spills. The claims named the "Southern Provinces" of Bushehr, Fars, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Kerman and Kohgiloyeh, the central Bushehr coast and the Nayband Bay mangrove forest. Iraq was the respondent.

In the F4 Panel's summary, Iran said that Iraq's detonation of Kuwait's oil wells released "more than 760,000 tons of smoke", that "over 280,000 tons of highly toxic pollutants were dispersed by air and deposited on Iranian territory" and that "over 15 million people inhaled the toxic smoke for more than 250 days". In later instalments Iran said its territory "was exposed to wet deposition from approximately 350,000 tonnes of soot" and cited "black rain" samples. Iraq, as the Panel summarised its position, said Iran "has failed to show that it has suffered any direct damage", that the smoke plume "rarely reached Iranian territory", that no sampling was done in Iran in 1991, and that "the only source of oil pollution along the Iranian shores was the traffic to the Iranian ports". The Panel found "ample evidence that pollutants from the oil fires in Kuwait reached some parts of Iran and that the territory of Iran was exposed to the oil spill in the Persian Gulf".

First instalment (Governing Council Decision 132, 21 June 2001): Iran filed 40 claims for monitoring and assessment studies; the Panel recommended USD 17,007,070. Second instalment (report S/AC.26/2002/26, 3 October 2002; Decision 171): Iran filed four claims totalling USD 64,315,474 and the Panel recommended USD 67,587, for two dredgers of the Ports and Shipping Organization used against oil spills in May–June 1991. No award was made for airport cleaning (USD 13,271,375), the electricity sector (USD 41,372,625) or the Iranian Fishery Company's replacement of 160,000 fishing nets (USD 9,481,481); the Panel found the evidentiary requirements were not met. The third instalment contained no Iranian claim.

Fourth instalment, part one (report S/AC.26/2004/16, 9 December 2004; Decision 234): claim 5000456 (remediation) had an asserted value of USD 2,484,623,669 and the Panel recommended USD 188,760, for rangeland restoration in refugee areas. Forests damaged by refugees, revegetation of rangeland and forest said to be damaged by oil-fire pollution (USD 209,808,831 claimed), groundwater remediation (USD 527,904,400) and marine and coral reef remediation (USD 373,590,708) received no award. For the marine claim the Panel cited other possible major causes of contamination on the central Bushehr coast, including "the 1983 Nowruz oil spill and other events during the Iran-Iraq war", and found that the evidence did not allow it to separate the share caused by the 1990–91 conflict. Fifth instalment (report S/AC.26/2005/10 and Decision 248, 30 June 2005): Iran filed five claims totalling USD 11,090,762,249; USD 27,780,752 was recommended and approved. Of that, USD 24,034,892 was for reduced crop yields in 1991 (claimed: USD 441,895,991); the fisheries claim (USD 161,000,000, including USD 23,000,000 for an estimated 35 per cent decrease in mangrove cover in Nayband Bay) and the terrestrial, cultural-heritage and marine parts of the "other resources" claim received nothing.

On 8 December 2005 Decision 258 set up the Follow-up Programme for Environmental Awards. It directed the UNCC to withhold 15 per cent of the F4 awards within the programme's scope until projects were completed satisfactorily. Iran's two projects were rangeland remediation (claim 5000456, USD 188,760, 220 hectares) and cancer-incidence monitoring (claim 5000394, USD 332,200 in the Decision), which set up a death registry for all provinces and a cancer registry for the provinces most affected by pollution. The UNCC page states that the four participating governments (Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia) together received about US$4.3 billion in remediation and restoration awards and that Iran "had only two small projects". On 2 May 2013 Decision 270 stated that Iran "has completed the implementation of its two environmental projects", declared the Programme closed for Iran and authorised release of the withheld funds "along with any accrued interest".

  1. 1990Damage period claimed for refugee arrivals begins (2 Aug)
  2. 1991Kuwait oil fires and Gulf oil releases; damage period claimed ends (2 Mar)
  3. 2001Decision 132 approves the first F4 instalment (21 Jun)
  4. 2002Second-instalment report S/AC.26/2002/26 (3 Oct); Decision 171
  5. 2004Fourth-instalment report, part one, S/AC.26/2004/16 (9 Dec); Decision 234
  6. 2005Decision 248 approves the fifth instalment (30 Jun); Decision 258 sets up the Follow-up Programme (8 Dec)
  7. 2013Decision 270: Iran's two projects completed; Programme closed for Iran (2 May)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“ample evidence that pollutants from the oil fires in Kuwait reached some parts of Iran and that the territory of Iran was exposed to the oil spill in the Persian Gulf”

“has failed to show that it has suffered any direct damage”

“over 15 million people inhaled the toxic smoke for more than 250 days”

“the only source of oil pollution along the Iranian shores was the traffic to the Iranian ports”

“has completed the implementation of its two environmental projects”

“had only two small projects”

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Whether, and how much, smoke and oil from Kuwait reached Iran
Government and regulators
Government of Iran

Said over 280,000 tons of toxic pollutants were deposited on Iranian territory and millions of barrels of crude oil were released into the Gulf (as summarised by the Panel).

United Nations Compensation Commission
Government and regulators
Government of Iraq

Said Iran failed to show direct damage, that the plume rarely reached Iranian territory, that the Kuwait slick did not reach the Iranian coast and that no sampling was done in Iran in 1991 (as summarised by the Panel).

United Nations Compensation Commission
International bodies
UNCC F4 Panel

Found ample evidence that pollutants from the Kuwait oil fires reached some parts of Iran and that Iran's territory was exposed to the Gulf oil spill, and did not accept most of the claimed damage.

United Nations Compensation Commission
Cause of the 1991 crop losses and the price basis for valuing them
Government and regulators
Government of Iraq

Said reduced rainfall, late rains, frost and disease could explain the 1991 crop losses and that local producer prices should be used instead of market prices.

United Nations Compensation Commission
International bodies
UNCC F4 Panel

Accepted that crop yields fell in 1991 "at least in part, a direct result" of the invasion and occupation, and recalculated the loss using FAO 1991 local producer prices and a productivity variable.

United Nations Compensation Commission
Attribution of marine and coastal contamination on the central Bushehr coast
Government and regulators
Government of Iran

Claimed USD 373,590,708 for marine and coral reef remediation.

United Nations Compensation Commission
International bodies
UNCC F4 Panel

Awarded nothing, citing other possible major causes including the 1983 Nowruz oil spill, oil platforms, terminals, processing facilities and natural seeps.

United Nations Compensation Commission
Amount of Iran's first-instalment claim
International bodies
F4 Panel report S/AC.26/2001/16 (Tables 2 and 3)

Iran's 40 claims totalled USD 42,951,383; recommended USD 17,007,070.

United Nations Compensation Commission
International bodies
Governing Council Decision 132

Amount claimed USD 40,838,883; amount recommended USD 17,007,070.

United Nations Compensation Commission
Amount of claim 5000394 (cancer-incidence monitoring)
International bodies
Governing Council Decision 258 (corrected Annex I)

USD 332,200.

United Nations Compensation Commission
International bodies
F4 Panel report S/AC.26/2005/10

USD 332,300 claimed and awarded.

United Nations Compensation Commission

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Iran told the Panel that Iraq's detonation of Kuwait's oil wells released "more than 760,000 tons of smoke" and that "millions of barrels of crude oil were deliberately released into the Persian Gulf by Iraq's forces".
    Government of Iran, as summarised by the F4 Panel · United Nations Compensation Commission
  • Iran said its territory "was exposed to wet deposition from approximately 350,000 tonnes of soot" and submitted "black rain" samples.
    Government of Iran, as summarised in S/AC.26/2005/10 para. 100 · United Nations Compensation Commission

Recorded

  • The Panel recommended USD 17,007,070 for Iran's first-instalment studies, USD 67,587 in the second instalment, USD 188,760 in the fourth instalment (part one) and USD 27,780,752 in the fifth instalment.
    United Nations Compensation Commission
  • The Panel accepted that crop yields in the Southern Provinces fell in 1991 and that the fall was "at least in part, a direct result" of the invasion and occupation.
    United Nations Compensation Commission
  • The fourth-instalment groundwater (USD 527,904,400), marine and coral reef (USD 373,590,708) and revegetation (USD 209,808,831) claims received no award.
    United Nations Compensation Commission
  • Iran's Follow-up Programme projects totalled USD 520,960 in Decision 258; Decision 270 closed the Programme for Iran on 2 May 2013.
    United Nations Compensation Commission

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
First instalment: monitoring and assessment studies (recommended)$17m
Decision 132.
Second instalment: two dredgers used against oil spills (recommended)$0.07m
Fourth instalment, part one: rangeland restoration in refugee areas (recommended)$0.19m
Fifth instalment: all recommended awards$28m
Of which USD 24,034,892 for reduced 1991 crop yields.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Fifth instalment: amount claimed$11.1bn
Fourth instalment, claim 5000456: asserted value$2.5bn
Second instalment: amount claimed$64m
First instalment: amount claimed (Panel Tables 2 and 3)$43m
Decision 132 gives USD 40,838,883.
Currency: USD · Window: 1990–2013 (UNCC instalments 2001–2005). All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • Government of Iran (2001): Said the damage "will continue to have adverse impacts on its marine environment, fisheries, water resources, terrestrial environment, agricultural lands, rangelands and forests, cultural heritage sites and public health" (as summarised by the F4 Panel). · United Nations Compensation Commission
  • Government of Iraq (2001–2005): Said Iran failed to show direct damage, that the plume rarely reached Iranian territory, and that reduced rainfall, late rains, frost and disease could explain the 1991 crop losses (as summarised by the Panel). · United Nations Compensation Commission

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2001Claimant won$17.01m recommended (millions)
    Iran's F4 claims, first instalment (Decision 132)
    UN Compensation Commission, F4 Panel of Commissioners and Governing Council · International court · Government of Iran → Government of Iraq

    Iran filed 40 claims for monitoring and assessment studies; the Panel recommended USD 17,007,070 and the Governing Council approved on 21 June 2001. United Nations Compensation Commission

  2. 2002Claimant won$0.07m recommended (millions)
    Iran's F4 claims, second instalment (Decision 171)
    UN Compensation Commission, F4 Panel of Commissioners and Governing Council · International court · Government of Iran → Government of Iraq

    Four claims totalling USD 64,315,474; USD 67,587 recommended for two dredgers used against oil spills. Airport cleaning, electricity-sector and fishing-net claims received no award for lack of evidence. United Nations Compensation Commission

  3. 2004Claimant won$0.19m recommended (millions)
    Iran's F4 claims, fourth instalment part one (Decision 234)
    UN Compensation Commission, F4 Panel of Commissioners and Governing Council · International court · Government of Iran → Government of Iraq

    Claim 5000456 (asserted value USD 2,484,623,669): USD 188,760 recommended for rangeland restoration in refugee areas; forest, revegetation, groundwater and marine sub-claims received no award. United Nations Compensation Commission

  4. 2005Claimant won$27.78m recommended and approved (millions)
    Iran's F4 claims, fifth instalment (Decision 248)
    UN Compensation Commission, F4 Panel of Commissioners and Governing Council · International court · Government of Iran → Government of Iraq

    Five claims totalling USD 11,090,762,249; USD 27,780,752 recommended and approved on 30 June 2005, including USD 24,034,892 for reduced 1991 crop yields. The fisheries claim (USD 161,000,000) received nothing. United Nations Compensation Commission

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Recommended, fifth instalment
USD 27,780,752
Against USD 11,090,762,249 claimed (S/AC.26/2005/10)
Fourth instalment, claim 5000456
USD 188,760
Recommended against USD 2,484,623,669 asserted; groundwater, marine and revegetation sub-claims received no award
Rangeland remediated under the follow-up project
220 ha
UNCC follow-up page; project value USD 188,760

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Under standard-setter review

Nature

  • Disputed Whether, and how much, smoke and oil from Kuwait reached Iran
  • Disputed Cause of the 1991 crop losses and the price basis for valuing them
  • Disputed Attribution of marine and coastal contamination on the central Bushehr coast

Accounts

  • Disputed Amount of Iran's first-instalment claim
  • Disputed Amount of claim 5000394 (cancer-incidence monitoring)

Record

  • None on record None on record: the date and amount of each payment to Iran from the UNCC Compensation Fund.
  • Self-reported only Self-reported only: Iran's figures for mangrove loss (166.3 ha at Nayband Bay) and coral are Iran's claims; the Panel made no finding confirming them.
  • Not measured Not measured: Iraq argued, and the Panel recorded, that no sampling was conducted in Iran in 1991.
  • Insufficient Insufficient: the Panel's report states that Iran "has not submitted evidence, such as ground-level monitoring data on SO2, ozone, and soot levels".
  • Disputed Insufficient: for long-term marine damage the data did not allow the Panel to determine "what proportion of the damage can reasonably be attributed" to the conflict.
  • None on record None on record: project dates for Iran's two Follow-up Programme projects on the UNCC page.
  • None on record None on record: whether Iran published its own reports on the first-instalment studies, for example the cancer-registry results.
  • Disputed Figures differ: Iran's first-instalment claim is USD 42,951,383 in the Panel's report and USD 40,838,883 in Decision 132; claim 5000394 is USD 332,200 in Decision 258 and USD 332,300 in report S/AC.26/2005/10.
  • None on record None on record: insurance.

Did the harm stop?

The claims concern events of 1990–91. The Panel did not accept evidence of lasting damage attributable to the conflict for forests, rangeland soils, groundwater or coastal and coral systems.

Who paid?

Awards were paid from the UNCC Compensation Fund, financed by a share of Iraq's oil-export revenue under UN Security Council resolutions. The date and amount of each payment to Iran are not on record.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

International bodies

  2. Governing Council Decision 132: first instalment of "F4" claims
    United Nations Compensation Commission · 2001-06-21
  7. Governing Council Decision 248: fifth instalment of "F4" claims
    United Nations Compensation Commission · 2005-06-30
  10. Follow-up Programme for Environmental Awards (overview)
    United Nations Compensation Commission ·
  11. Follow-up Programme: Islamic Republic of Iran
    United Nations Compensation Commission ·
  12. Decisions of the Governing Council (index)
    United Nations Compensation Commission ·

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Groundwater
Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

Standard-setter and registry
An organisation that writes the rules for carbon credits, approves projects, and records when credits are issued and retired. Such bodies typically charge fees per credit.
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