evidence: A territory of 2,200 square miles (5,700 square km) along the gulf was shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as a neutral zone until a political boundary was agreed on in 1969. Each of the two countries now administers half of the territory (called the Neutral, or Partitioned, Zone), but they continue to share equally the revenues from oil production in the entire area. Although the boundary with Saudi Arabia is defined, the border with Iraq remains in dispute. In the northern part of the country, Saudi Arabia contested territory with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait and these border disputes were not resolved until 1965, 1981, and 2000 respectively. In 1922, even before the creation of the new state, Ibn Saud, the leader of the territory of Najd (the bulk of what makes up Saudi Arabia today), issued a claim against the British along the borders of what is now Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan after the British took over territory in that area formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire. [...] The maritime boundary dispute not only included water rights, but also sovereignty over two islands, Qaru and umm al-Maradim, located respectively about 23 and 16 miles away from the former neutral zone. Neither state took any actions with regard to their maritime boundary or rights to the islands until in January 2000 when Iran began to drill in an offshore gas feld that was claimed by both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.