Mediterranean Sea is a border of which of the following countries?
- 1.Jordan
- 2.Iraq
- 3.Lebanon
- 4.Syria
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) 3 and 4 only
Only Lebanon and Syria, of the four West Asian countries listed, have a Mediterranean coastline. Jordan and Iraq have no Mediterranean coast: Jordan's short coast is on the Gulf of Aqaba and Iraq's on the Persian Gulf.
- ✗ 1. Jordan has about 26 km of coast, all on the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea side), where Aqaba is its only port. It does not touch the Mediterranean.
- ✗ 2. Iraq's small coastline of about 58 km lies at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, far from the Mediterranean.
- ✓ 3. Lebanon is on the eastern Mediterranean shore and is a Contracting Party to the Barcelona Convention, which covers the Mediterranean's coastal states.
- ✓ 4. Syria also has a western coast on the Mediterranean and is likewise a Contracting Party to the Barcelona Convention.
Remember · Eastern Mediterranean coast, north to south: Türkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, then Egypt. Jordan and Iraq are not on it.
Sources
- UNEP/MAP: Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (Mediterranean coastal states) ↗ “The 22 Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention are: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Türkiye, and the European Union.”
- PERSGA (Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden) ↗ · reference work “PERSGA is the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden PERSGA is an IGO have seven member states, including Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Jordan ↗ · reference work “Jordan has 16 miles (26 km) of coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba in the southwest, where Al-ʿAqabah, its only port, is located.”
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Iraq ↗ · reference work “Iraq has a small coastline of 36 miles (58 km) on the northern end of the Persian Gulf.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·