Persian Gulf countries
The eight countries around the Persian Gulf, the shallow sea between Iran and Arabia that holds some of the world’s biggest oil and gas fields, with the Strait of Hormuz its only way out.
8 countriesAs of September 2026Short notes, not sourcedSuggest a correction
The Persian Gulf covers about 250,000 km² and is shallow, only about 50 m deep on average. It joins the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, about 40 km wide at its narrowest, which carries around a fifth of the oil the world uses. The Tigris and Euphrates reach it together as the Shatt al-Arab.
The name itself is disputed. Iran and most maps call it the Persian Gulf, and Iran insists on it, while the Arab states call it the Arabian Gulf. Six of the eight countries on it form the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The northern shore2
The Arabian shore6
The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Saudi ArabiaIts Gulf coast, around Dammam, is the centre of its oil industry. It also has a longer coast on the Red Sea.
BahrainAn island country joined to Saudi Arabia by a causeway.
QatarA peninsula sticking into the Gulf. It shares the world’s largest gas field with Iran.
United Arab EmiratesAbu Dhabi and Dubai are on the Gulf. It also has a coast on the Gulf of Oman, at Fujairah.
OmanOnly the Musandam exclave, cut off from the rest of Oman by the UAE, reaches the Gulf, on the Strait of Hormuz.
Close calls
The Gulf of Oman
Beyond the Strait of Hormuz lies the Gulf of Oman, part of the Indian Ocean. Iran, the UAE and Oman have coasts on both, and so count for the Indian Ocean too.
Disputed islands
Iran holds three small islands near the strait, Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, which the UAE claims.
More country lists
- Amazon rainforest countries
- Andean countries
- Arab League member states
- Arctic Ocean countries
- ASEAN member countries
- Atlantic Ocean countries
- Baltic Sea countries
- Black Sea countries
- BRICS member countries
- Caribbean Sea countries
- Commonwealth member countries
- Countries in the Arctic Circle
- Countries in the European Union
- Countries of the former Yugoslavia
- Countries on the Equator
- Countries that drive on the left
- Countries that use the euro
- Countries with a monarch
- Countries with nuclear weapons
- Danube countries
- FIFA World Cup host countries
- Former Soviet republics
- G20 member countries
- Indian Ocean countries
- Island nations
- Landlocked countries
- Mediterranean countries
- Mekong countries
- NATO member countries
- OECD member countries
- OPEC member countries
- Pacific Ocean countries
- Red Sea countries
- Sahara Desert countries
- Schengen Area countries
- Summer Olympics host countries
- Winter Olympics host countries