Also known as: Rud-e Arvand, Arvand River, Shatt al-Arab, Swift River, Arvand Rood

Arvand Rud is a river of some 200 km in length, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris in the town of al-Qurnah in the Basra Governorate of southern Iraq. The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf.

The Arvand Rudd River flows in the townships of Khoram Shahr, Abadan and to the west of the Minoo Island (Minushahr). This river is known as the Shatt al-Arab (Shat-ol-arab) in Iraq. In Middle Persian literature and the Shahnameh (written between c. 977 and 1010 AD), the name Arvand is used for the Tigris, the confluent of the Shatt al-Arab. Iranians also used this name specifically to designate the Shatt al-Arab during the later Pahlavi period, and continue to do so after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

The word Arvand “swift” appears in New Persian personal names such as Arvand-asb and Arvand-dast, and in Armenian and Greek (Ervand and Orontes), but no mention of a river by this name is made in the Avesta or in the Bundahisn, where, in the chapter on rivers, the river Tigris is mentioned by name; nor does it occur in the inscriptions of Darius the Great at Bisotun (Behistun), where the river Tigris is mentioned twice.


In this river shipping is possible and the surrounding area is furthermore an interesting sight.