Rumaila oil field in the context of "Operation Desert Storm"

The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.

On 2 August 1990, Iraq, governed by Saddam Hussein, invaded neighboring Kuwait and fully occupied the country within two days. The invasion was primarily over disputes regarding Kuwait's alleged slant drilling in Iraq's Rumaila oil field, as well as to cancel Iraq's large debt to Kuwait from the recently ended Iran–Iraq War. After Iraq briefly occupied Kuwait under a rump puppet government known as the Republic of Kuwait, it split Kuwait's sovereign territory into the Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District in the north, which was absorbed into Iraq's existing Basra Governorate, and the Kuwait Governorate in the south, which became Iraq's 19th governorate.

Saddamiyat al-Mitla' (Arabic: قضاء صدامية المطلاع) was a district in Basra Governorate during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait 1990–1991.The formation of the district was announced on August 28, 1990. The name sought to honour the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Whilst the rest of Kuwait was annexed as the 19th governorate of Iraq, the strategic northern part of Kuwait was annexed as the Saddamiyat al-Mitla' district as part of the Basrah Governorate.

The district covered some 7,000 square kilometres (2700 sq. mi.). It included Warbah Island, Bubiyan Island, the area around Abdali, Raudhatain oil field, Sabriya oil field, Ratqa oil field and the southern part of the Rumaila oil field. Apart from its oil resources, the district held most of the underground water sources of Kuwait. Iraqi media declared that a new city, also named Saddamiyat al-Mitla', would be built in the district.

United States foreign policy in the Middle East has its roots in the early 19th-century Tripolitan War that occurred shortly after the 1776 establishment of the United States as an independent sovereign state, but became much more expansive in the aftermath of World War II. With the goal of preventing the Soviet Union from gaining influence in the region during the Cold War, American foreign policy saw the deliverance of extensive support in various forms to anti-communist and anti-Soviet regimes; among the top priorities for the U.S. with regard to this goal was its support for the State of Israel against its Soviet-backed neighbouring Arab countries during the peak of the Arab–Israeli conflict. The U.S. also came to replace the United Kingdom as the main security patron for Saudi Arabia as well as the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the 1960s and 1970s in order to ensure, among other goals, a stable flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. As of 2023, the U.S. has diplomatic relations with every country in the Middle East except for Iran, with whom relations were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

American influence in the Greater Middle East has reduced in recent years, most significantly since the Arab Spring, yet is still substantial. Currently stated priorities of the U.S. government in the Middle East include resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction among regional states, particularly Iran.

West Qurna (Arabic: غرب قرنة) is one of Iraq's largest oil fields, located north of Rumaila field, 65 km northwest of Basra. As of 2010, West Qurna was believed to hold 43 billion barrels (6.8×10^ m) of recoverable reserves – making it one of the biggest oil fields in the world. Until 2009, the field was closed to Western firms.