There were three main causes to this war. First, Iraq had considered Kuwait as part of Iraq for a long time. The claim caused many disputes over the years. Also, when Saddam Hussein's takeover of Iran failed, he tried to conquer smaller or weaker countries.

Second, a large amount of oil was and still is produced along the Iraq-Kuwait border. Iraq had repeatedly claimed that Kuwait was illegally tapping oil from the Iraqi side of the border. The many deserts in the Middle East make border designation difficult. This had caused many disagreements in this region.

Third and lastly, the after-effects of the previous war between Iraq and Iran did not help relations between Baghdad and Kuwait City. The previous war began with Iraq attempting to invade Iran and greatly wore down Iraq's armed forces. Another unforeseen consequence of the Iraq-Iran battle was deteriorated relations between Kuwait and Iraq.