Detailed field investigations, a crustal-scale cross section and stratigraphic data are used to document oblique convergence in Kurdistan, NW Zagros. Two stages of deformation partitioning are recognized in the external part of Zagros, one in the Late Cretaceous by obduction and the other in the Cenozoic by collision. Thus, it is proposed that oblique convergence of Arabian and Eurasian plates in Zagros initiated in the Late Cretaceous, consistent with global plate reconstructions.