Railroads: 2,962 km total; 2,457 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, 505 km 1.000-meter gauge

Highways: 25,479 km total; 8,290 km paved, 5,534 km improved earth, 11,655 km unimproved earth

Inland waterways: 1,015 km; Shatt al Arab usually navigable by maritime traffic for about 130 km, but closed since September 1980 because of Iran-Iraq war; Tigris and Euphrates navigable by shallow-draft steamers (of little importance); Shatt al Basrah canal navigable in sections by shallow-draft vessels

Ports: Umm Qasr, Khawr az Zubayr, Al Basrah

Merchant marine: 43 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 944,253 GRT/1,691,368 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 1 passenger-cargo, 17 cargo, 1 refrigerated cargo, 3 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 19 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 chemical tanker; note--since the 2 August 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces, Iraq has sought to register at least part of its merchant fleet under convenience flags; none of the Iraqi flag merchant fleet was trading internationally as of 1 January 1991

Pipelines: crude oil, 4,350 km; 725 km refined products; 1,360 km natural gas

Civil air: 64 major transport aircraft (including 30 IL-76s used by the Iraq Air Force)

Airports: 111 total, 102 usable; 73 with permanent-surface runways; 9 with runways over 3,659 m; 52 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: good network consists of coaxial cables, radio relay links, and radiocommunication stations; 632,000 telephones; stations--9 AM, 1 FM, 81 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 GORIZONT Atlantic Ocean in the Intersputnik system; coaxial cable and radio relay to Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey

NOTE: The information regarding Iraq on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Iraq Communications 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Iraq Communications 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.