The Iran–Iraq War

The Iran–Iraq War (also known as the First Persian Gulf War and by various other names) was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the 20th century. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ18T Battery

It was initially referred to in English as the "Persian Gulf War" prior to the "Gulf War" of 1990.^[18]

The war began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 Battery

and fears of Shia Islam insurgency among Iraq's long-suppressed Shia majority influenced by the Iranian Revolution. Iraq was also aiming to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state. Although Iraq hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190E Battery

they made only limited progress into Iran and were quickly repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years, Iran was on the offensive.^[19]

Despite calls for a ceasefire by the United Nations Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190E/1 Battery

The war finally ended with a United Nations brokered ceasefire in the form of United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, which was accepted by both sides. It took several weeks for the Iranian armed forces to evacuate Iraqi territory to honor pre-war international borders between the two nations (see 1975 Algiers Agreement). Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190E/2 Battery

The last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003.^[19][20]

The war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage—half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers as well as civilians are believed to have died in the war with many more injured—but it brought neither reparations nor change in borders. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190E/B Battery

The conflict is often compared to World War I,^[21] in that the tactics used closely mirrored those of that conflict, including large scale trench warfare, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use ofbarbed wire across trenches, human wave attacks across no-man's land, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190EB Battery

and extensive use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas by the Iraqi government against Iranian troops and civilians as well as Iraqi Kurds. At the time, the UN Security Council issued statements that "chemical weapons had been used in the war. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190N Battery

" However, in these UN statements it was never made clear that it was only Iraq that was using chemical weapons, so it has been said that "the international community remained silent as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against Iranian[s] as well as Iraqi Kurds." Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190N2 Battery

Name

The war was commonly referred to as the Gulf War until the Iraq-Kuwait conflict (Jan–Feb 1991), and for a while thereafter as the First Persian Gulf War. The Iraq-Kuwait conflict, while originally known as the Second Persian Gulf War, later became known simply as the "Gulf War". Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190N3 Battery

The United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the following occupation of the country from 2003–2011 has since been called the "Second Persian Gulf War".

The war of 1980-1988 is also known in Iran as the Imposed War (جنگ تحمیلی, Jang-e Tahmīlī) and the Holy Defense(دفاع مقدس, Defā'-e Moqaddas). Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190N4 Battery

In Iraq, the president, Saddam Hussein initially dubbed the conflict the "Whirlwind War".^[25] It was also referred in Iraq as Saddām's Qādisiyyah (قادسية صدام, Qādisiyyat Ṣaddām), in reference to the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190N5 Battery

Post-colonial era

One of the factors contributing to hostility between the two powers was a dispute over full control of the Arvand Rud waterway (known as Shatt al-Arab in Iraq) at the head of the Persian Gulf, an important channel for the oil exports of both countries. In 1937, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190U Battery

Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the long-standing dispute, which dated back to the Ottoman-Persian wars of the 16th and 17th centuries over the control of the Shatt.^[26] In the same year, Iran and Iraq both joined the Saadabad Pact, and relations between the two nations remained good for decades afterwards.^[26] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ19L Battery

In 1955, both nations joined the Baghdad Pact.^[26] The 1937 treaty recognized the Iranian-Iraqi border as along the low-water mark on the eastern side of the Shatt except at Abadan and Khorramshahr where the frontier ran along the thalweg (the deep water line) which gave Iraq control of almost the entire waterway; Sony VAIO VGN-FZ19VN Battery

provided that all ships using the Shatt fly the Iraqi flag and have an Iraqi pilot, and required Iran to pay tolls to Iraq whenever its ships used the Shatt.^[27]

The overthrow of the Hashemites in Iraq in 1958 brought to power a new regime that was more stridently nationalist, and which promptly left the Baghdad Pact. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ20 Battery

On 18 December 1959, the new leader of Iraq, General Abdul Karim Qassim, declared: "We do not wish to refer to the history of Arab tribes residing in Al-Ahwaz and Mohammareh [Khorramshahr]. The Ottomans handed over Mohammareh, which was part of Iraqi territory, to Iran." Sony VAIO VGN-FZ210CE Battery

The Iraqi regime's dissatisfaction with Iran's possession of the oil-rich Khuzestan province (which Iraqis called Arabistan) that had a large Arabic-speaking population was not limited to rhetorical statements. Iraq began supporting secessionist movements in Khuzestan, and even raised the issue of its territorial claims at a meeting of the Arab League, without success.^[26] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21E Battery

Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran—especially after the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970 and the rise of the Ba'ath Party which took power in a 1968 coup, led Iraq to take on the self-appointed role of the "leader of the Arab world". Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21J Battery

At the same time, by the late 1960s, the build-up of Iranian power under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had gone on a gargantuan military spending spree, led Iran to take a more assertive stance in the Near East.^[26]

In April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab river, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21M Battery

and as such, Iran ceased paying tolls to Iraq when its ships used the Shatt.^[28] The Shah justified his move by arguing that almost all river borders all over the world ran along the thalweg, and by claiming that because most of the ships that used the Shatt were Iranian, the 1937 treaty was unfair to Iran.^[29] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21S Battery

Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but when on 24 April 1969 an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships sailed down the Shatt, Iraq—being the militarily weaker state—did nothing.^[27]

The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975.^[27] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ21Z Battery

In 1969, the deputy prime minister of Iraq stated: "Iraq's dispute with Iran is in connection with Khuzestan which is part of Iraq's soil and was annexed to Iran during foreign rule." Soon Iraqi radio stations began exclusively broadcasting into "Arabistan", Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220E Battery

encouraging Arabs living in Iran and evenBalūchīs to revolt against the Shah of Iran's government. Basra TV stations even began showing Iran's Khuzestan province as part of Iraq's new province calledNasiriyyah, renaming all its cities with Arabic names.

In 1971, Iraq broke diplomatic relations with Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of Abu Musa, 
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Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf, following the withdrawal of the British.^[30] Iraq then expropriated the properties of 70,000 people it said were Iraqis of Iranian origin and expelled them from its territory, after complaining to the Arab League and the UN without success. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220EB Battery

Many, if not most of those expelled were in fact Iraqi Shias who had little to no family ties with Iran, and the vast majority of whom spoke Arabic, rather than Persian.^[31]

In retaliation for Iraq's claims to Khuzestan, Iran became the main patron of Iraq's Kurdish rebels in the early 1970s, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220U Battery

giving the Iraqi Kurds bases in Iran and providing the Kurdish groups with weapons.^[27] In addition to Iraq's fomenting of separatism in Iran's Khuzestan and Iranian Balochistan provinces, both countries encouraged separatist activities by Kurdish nationalists in the other country. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220U/B Battery

In the winter of 1974–75, Iran and Iraq almost went to war over Iran's support of the Kurds in Iraq.^[27] However, given Iran's greater military strength and population, the Iraqis decided against war, and chose to make concessions to Tehran to end the Kurdish rebellion.^[27] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ220UB Battery

In the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Iraq made territorial concessions—including the Shatt waterway—in exchange for normalized relations.^[27] In return for Iraqi recognition that the frontier on the Shatt ran along the entire thalweg, Iran ended its support of the Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas.^[27] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ230E Battery

The Algiers Agreement was widely seen as a national humiliation in Iraq.^[27][32] However, the Algiers Agreement meant the end of Iranian and US support for the Peshmerga, who were defeated by the Iraqi government in a short campaign that claimed 20,000 lives.^[33] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ230E/B Battery

The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "...the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of the rebels as they could lay their hands on".^[33]

The relationship between the Iranian and Iraqi governments briefly improved in 1978, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ230EB Battery

when Iranian agents in Iraq discovered a planned pro-Soviet coup d'état against the Iraqi government. When informed of this plot, Saddam Hussein, who was vice president at the time, ordered the execution of dozens of his army officers, and to return the favor, expelled Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled leader of clerical opposition to the Shah, from Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240E Battery

After the Islamic Revolution

Iran's Pan-Islamism and revolutionary Shia Islamism and Iraq's Arab nationalism were central to the conflict. Initially, the Iraqi government welcomed the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978–79, having had a common enemy with them in the deposed Shah.^[34] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240E/B Battery

The call, first made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in June 1979 for Iraqi Shias to overthrow the Ba'ath regime was therefore received with considerable shock in Baghdad.^[34] On 17 July 1979, despite Khomeini's call, the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave a speech praising the Iranian revolution, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240EB Battery

and called for Iraqi-Iranian friendship based upon non-interference in each other's internal affairs.^[34]

When Khomeini ignored Hussein's overture, and continued with his call for a Shia revolution in Iraq, the Iraqi regime was seriously alarmed.^[35] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240N Battery

The new Islamic regime in Iran was regarded in Baghdad as an irrational, existential threat to the Ba'ath regime.^[36] This was especially the case as the Ba'ath regime, despite its secular nature, was dominated by ArabSunnis, with the Arab Shia majority together with the Kurdish minority being assigned the status of an underclass.^[37] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240N/B Battery

Above all, Hussein was keenly interested in elevating Iraq to a strong regional power.^[38] A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq's petroleum reserves and make Iraq the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region. With Iran engulfed in chaos, an opportunity for Iraq to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province materialised.^[39] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240NB Battery

In addition, Khuzestan's large ethnic Arab population would allow Hussein to pose as the liberator of the Arabs from Persian rule.^[32]

In 1979–80, Iraq was the beneficiary of an oil boom that saw it take in $33 billion US, which allowed the Iraqi government to go on a lavish spending spree on both civilian and military projects.^[36] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ25 Battery

On several occasions Husseinalluded to the Islamic conquest of Iran in propagating his position against Iran. For example, on 2 April 1980, half a year before the outbreak of the war, in a visit by Hussein to al-Mustansiriyyah University in Baghdad, drawing parallels with the 7th century defeat of Persia in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, he announced: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ250E Battery

In your name, brothers, and on behalf of the Iraqis and Arabs everywhere we tell those Persian cowards and dwarfs who try to avenge Al-Qadisiyah that the spirit of Al-Qadisiyah as well as the blood and honor of the people of Al-Qadisiyah who carried the message on their spearheads are greater than their attempts." Sony VAIO VGN-FZ250E/B Battery

In turn, the Ayatollah Khomeini believed Muslims—particularly the Shias in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, whom he saw as oppressed—could and should follow the Iranian example and rise up against their governments to join a united Islamic republic.^[41] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ260E Battery

Khomeini and Iran's Islamic revolutionaries despised Hussein's secularist, Arab nationalist Ba'athist regime in particular as un-Islamic and "a puppet of Satan,"^[42] and called on Iraqis to overthrow it. In 1979–1980, there were anti-Ba'ath riots in the Shia areas of Iraq, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ27 Battery

and the Iranian government extended its support to Iraqi Shia militants working toward an Islamic revolution in their country.^[43]

In April 1980 alone, 20 Ba'ath officials were assassinated by Shia militants, and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was almost killed in an assassination attempt on 1 April.^[34] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ28 Battery

Later in April, Iraqi Information Minister Latif Nusseif al-Jasim barely survived an assassination attempt by Shia militants.^[34] The repeated calls for the overthrow of the Ba'ath regime and the support extended to Iraqi Shia groups by the new regime in Iran led Hussein to increasingly perceive the Iranian regime as a mortal threat that if ignored, might one day overthrow him.^[36] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280E Battery

In April 1980, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Amina Haydar (better known as Bint al-Huda) were hanged as part of the crackdown on Iraqi Shia activists.^[44] The hanging of Iraq's senior most Ayatollah caused outrage throughout the Shia world. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280E/B Battery

Starting in May 1980, skirmishes on the Iranian-Iraqi border became a daily event.^[36]

At the same time in Iran, severe officer purges (including several executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the post-revolution sharia ruler), and spare parts shortages for Iran's US-made equipment, had crippled Iran's once mighty military. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ280EB Battery

Between February and September 1979, the Iranian government executed 85 senior generals and forced all major-generals and most brigadier-generals into early retirement.^[45] By September 1980, the Iranian government had purged 12,000 army officers.^[45] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ283BN Battery

These purges resulted in a drastic decline in the operational capacities of the Iranian military.^[45] The bulk of the Iranian military was now made up of poorly-armed—though loyal and committed—militias.Iran had minimal defenses at the Arvand river. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ285U Battery

Iraqi pretext for war and Iraqi war aims

Iraq's pretext was an alleged assassination attempt on Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz in southern Iraq, which Saddam blamed on "Iranian agents", in one of his speeches. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ285U/B Battery

Relations deteriorated rapidly until in March 1980, Iran unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic ties to the charge d'affaireslevel, withdrew its ambassador, and demanded that Iraq do the same. The tension increased in April following the attempted assassination of Aziz and, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ285UB Battery

three days later, the bombing of a funeral procession being held to bury students who had died in an earlier attack. Iraq blamed Iran, and in September, attacked.

On 17 September, in a statement addressed to the Iraqi parliament, Saddam stated that "The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty.. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290 Battery

.have rendered the 1975 Algiers Agreement null and void... This river...must have its Iraqi-Arab identity restored as it was throughout history in name and in reality with all the disposal rights emanating from full sovereignty over the river.",

The objectives of Iraq's invasion of Iran were: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290E Battery

1. Control of the Arvand river waterway by Iraqis
2. Acquisition of the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, on behalf of the UAE
3. Annexation of Khuzestan to Iraq

Prevent the spread of the Islamic Revolution in the region Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EAB Battery

Geographic considerations

The border between Iran and Iraq is very mountainous, which made a deep ground invasion almost impossible. The ferocity Iran showed in defending its territory made a ground attack to the heart of Iran even more difficult.^[48] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EBB Battery

Therefore, air strikes were used instead to attack in depth. The first waves of the invasion were a series of airstrikes targeted at Iranian airfields. Iraq also attempted to bomb Iran's capital (and command centre) Tehran into submission. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EBW Battery

This strategy did not succeed as planned. Saddam Hussein underestimated the importance of the vast distances that made up Iran and overestimated the firing capacity and range of his nation's aircraft. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290ECB Battery

The Iraqi air force barely hit Iranian airfields and was only able to slightly damage Tehran's airport and take out a few planes there. The airstrikes were largely ineffective due to the sheer size of Iran.^[49] This was a costly mistake for Iraq—large sums of money were spent to carry out these strategies only to for them to fall far short of expectation. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EGB Battery

This did not deter Hussein, however, who remained focused on the potential gains.

Reasons for the Iraqi invasion

Although the ideological rivalry between Iraq and Iran contributed to tensions in the region, Saddam Hussein's motivation for invading Iran stemmed from economic reasons. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EGC Battery

Gaining control of Iranian oil fields would result in Iraq becoming one of the most feared powers in the Middle East and an economic contender in the world. Iran was (and remains) one of the world's leading producers of oil.^[50] Not only was Iran rich in resources, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EGE Battery

it also had within it an extensive set of old trade routesestablished between the Soviet Union and Iran connecting the Persian Gulf, opening on Africa and Asia, and Eastern Europe/Russia to the north.

Though the reasons for taking Iran were favorable, the conditions were not. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290EGS Battery

Rough terrain, vast distances and overestimating strategies all went to the disadvantage of Iraq's war efforts. Due to the natural resources and geographic proximity to the Soviet Union, Iraq would have become one of—if not the most—powerful nations in the Middle East had it taken over Iran. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290N Battery

Trade routes

Iran's rich natural resources were one reason that made it economically desirable to Iraq. They also had various trade routes established throughout the country. This territory was a strategic prize, as it would have given Iraq access to these trade routes along the Gulf and access to trade with Iran's neighbors, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ290U Battery

such as Pakistan, Armenia, India, and others. Iran was also considered to be a gateway to Russia, direct train lines were established from the capital region into the Soviet Union along the west coast of the Caspian sea and taking it over would allow for practically direct trade between Iraq and Russia: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ29VN Battery

“any appreciable flow of materials can be attained by the various Iranian routes to Russia.”.^[51]

1980: Iraqi invasion

Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise airstrikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the Iranian Air Force on the ground.^[52] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31B Battery

The attack damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft. The Iraqi Air Force was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN, Tu-22 and Su-20 aircraft, and the strikes were largely ineffective due to Iran's large size. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ31E Battery

Three MiG-23s managed to attack Tehran, striking its airport but damaging only a few aircraft.^[53]

The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion of Iran along a front measuring 644 kilometres in three simultaneous thrusts.^[52] 
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The purpose of the invasion, according to Saddam, was to blunt the edge of Khomeini's movement and to thwart his attempt to export his Islamic revolution to Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.^[46] Saddam hoped that by annexing the oil-rich province ofSony VAIO VGN-FZ31M Battery

Khuzestan that he would send such a blow to the prestige of the Islamic Republic that it would lead to the downfall of the new government, or at very least put an end to Iranian calls for his overthrow.^[54]

Of the six Iraqi divisions that were invading, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ320E/B Battery

four were sent against the Iranian province of Khuzestan, which was located near the southern end of the border, to cut off the Arvand river from the rest of Iran, and to establish a territorial security zone.^[52] The other two divisions invaded across the northern and central part of the border, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ320EB Battery

to prevent an Iranian counter-attack into Iraq.^[55] Two of the four Iraqi divisions operating near the southern end, one mechanised and one armoured, began a siege of the strategically important towns of Abadan and Khorramshahr.^[52]

The other two divisions, both armoured, secured the territory bounded by the line Khorramshahr-Ahvaz-Susangerd-Musian, due to an enveloping movement.^[52] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ32B Battery

On the central front, the Iraqis occupied Mehran, advanced towards the foothills of the Zagros Mountains; and were able to block the traditional Tehran–Baghdad invasion route by securing some territory forward of Qasr-e Shirin.^[55] On the northern front, the Iraqis attempted to establish a strong defensive position opposite Suleimaniya to protect the Iraqi Kirkuk oil complex.^[55] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ340E Battery

Iraqi hopes of an uprising by the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan failed to materialise; most of the ethnic Arabs—who were Shia—remained loyal to Iran.^[54] The Iraqi troops advancing into Iran in 1980 were described by the British journalist Patrick Brogan as "badly led and lacking in offensive spirit".^[39] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ340E/B Battery

The Iranian regular military and the Pasdaran resisted, but conducted their operations separately. As a result, the Iraqi invading forces did not face coordinated resistance.^[55] The Pasdaran fought against the Iraqi invasion with "great fervour and tenacity",^[56] and bore the brunt of the invasion.^[57] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ340N Battery

By the second day of the invasion, dozens of Iranian F-4s attacked Iraqi targets, and in a few days the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force gained air superiority over the Iraqis, allowing them to conduct ground attack missions with fighter-bombers and helicopters against Iraqi forces. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ345E Battery

The Iraqi Army was also subjected to attacks by entrenched Iranian artillery.^[58] On 24 September, though, the Iranian Navy attacked Basra and, on the way, had destroyed two oil terminals near the Iraqi port of Fao, which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil.^[59] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ345E/B Battery

The Iranian Air Force also began air strikes in September against strategically important Iraqi targets, including oil facilities, dams, petrochemical plants, and a nuclear reactor near Baghdad.^[59]

On 28 September, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution urging Iran and Iraq to cease hostilities and accept mediation.^[3]Sony VAIO VGN-FZ345EB Battery

Baghdad had been subjected to eight air attacks by 1 October.^[59] In response to these air attacks, Iraq launched a number of aerial strikes against Iranian targets.^[59] In October 1980, a prolonged urban battle took place for Khorramshahr with both sides losing about 7,000 dead.^[54] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ348E Battery

Reflecting the bloody nature of the struggle, both sides came to call Khorramshar "Khunistan" (City of Blood).^[54] On 24 October, Khorramshahr was finally captured^[56] and by November, Saddam ordered his forces to advance towards Dezful and Ahvaz,^[59] but their thrusts were repulsed.^[59] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ348E/B Battery

The Iraqi invasion had ground to a halt by December 1980, bogged down by unexpectedly fierce resistance and technical limitations. Rather than turning against the Islamic Republic as some experts had predicted, the people of Iran rallied around their country and resisted. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ348EB Battery

An estimated 200,000 fresh troops had arrived at the front by November, many of them "ideologically committed" volunteers.^[3] On 7 December, Hussein announced that Iraq was going on the defensive.^[60] For the next eight months, both sides were to be on a defensive footing (with the exception of the Battle of Dezful) Sony VAIO VGN-FZ35 Battery

as the Iranians needed more time to reorganize their forces to undo the damage inflicted by the purge of 1979–80.^[27] During this period, fighting consisted mainly of artillery duels and raids.^[60] Iraq had mobilized 21 divisions for the invasion, while Iran countered with only 13 regular army divisions and one brigade. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ37 Battery

Of these divisions, only seven were deployed to the border.

1981: Stalemate

On 5 January 1981 the Iranians launched an armoured offensive at Susangerd that saw the Iranians break through the Iraqi lines.^[61] However, the Iranian tanks had raced through the Iraqi lines with their flanks unprotected; Sony VAIO VGN-FZ38 Battery

as a result, the Iranian armoured division was cut off by Iraqi tanks.^[62] In the ensuing Battle of Dezful, the Iranian division was almost totally destroyed in one of the biggest tank battles of the entire war.^[62] The Iraqis lost 50 T-62 tanks while the Iranians lost 100 Chieftain and M-60 tanks.^[62] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ390 Battery

The battle had been ordered by President Abulhassan Banisadr who was hoping that a victory might shore up his deteriorating political position; instead the failure of the offensive helped to hasten his fall.^[63] Iran was further distracted by internal fighting between the regime and the leftist Mujaheddin e-Khalq group on the streets of Iran's major cities in June 1981 and again in September.^[64] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ390EBB Battery

In May 1981, the Iranians retook the high ground above Susangerd, and in September 1981, the Iranians put an end to the Iraqi Siege of Abadan, which had commenced in November 1980.^[65] By the fall of 1981, serious morale problems had developed in the Iraqi Army, with many Iraqi soldiers seeing no point to the invasion of Iran.^[66] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery

On 29 November 1981 Iran began Operation Tariq al-Qods (Operation Jerusalem Way) with three Army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades retaking the town of Bostan from the Iraqi division that was holding it by 7 December.^[66] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410E Battery

Operation Jerusalem Way saw the first use of the Iranian "human wave" tactics with the Revolutionary Guard charging the Iraqi positions time after time without the support of artillery or air power until victory.^[67]The fall of Bostan massively increased the Iraqi logistical problems as to supply their troops, Iraq was forced to use the roundabout route from Ahvaz far to the south.^[67]Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410E/B Battery

Iranian victories

For about a year after the Iraqi offensive stalled in March 1981 there was little change in the front, but in mid-March 1982 Iran took the offensive and the Iraqi military was forced to retreat. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ410EB Battery

By June 1982, an Iranian counter-offensive had recovered all the areas lost to Iraq earlier in the war. In Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas launched on 24 April 1982, 70,000 Revolutionary Guardsmen using infiltration tactics at night and human wave attacks by day had by 12 May driven all Iraqi forces out of the Susangerd area.^[68] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ420E Battery

On 20 May 1982 the Iranians began the drive towards Khorramsahr,^[68] culminiating in the decisive Liberation of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on 24 May 1982. A total of 7,000 Iraqis were killed or wounded in Khorramshahr^[69] and 19,000 taken prisoner, while the Iranians suffered 10,000 casualties. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ430E Battery

Saddam decided to withdraw his armed forces completely from Iran, redeploying them along the international border between Iraq and Iran.^[55] Efraim Karsh states that Saddam made this choice because he believed that his army was now too demoralised and damaged to hold onto any territory in Iran, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ430E/B Battery

and that Iran could be successfully resisted through a line of defence on Iraqi land near the border.^[55] Equally important, in April 1982, the rival Ba'athist regime in Syria at the request of Iran closed the Kirkuk–Banias pipeline that allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers on the Mediterranean, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ430EB Battery

which reduced the Iraqi budget by $5 billion US/month.^[70] The effects of the Syrian move was to place Iraq under dire financial pressure.^[70] The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote:

From the time the southern front stabilized at the end of 1980, Iran was able to prevent all Iraqi oil exports through the Shatt.Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440E Battery

In April 1982, as the tide of war turned against Iraq, Syria closed Iraq's pipeline to the Mediterranean, and it appeared for a while that Iraq would be strangled economically before it was defeated militarily.

After Syria closed the pipeline, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ440N Battery

Iraq's only means of exporting oil was the pipeline to Turkey that had a capacity of only 500,000 barrels per day (79,000 m³/d), which was quite insufficient to pay for the war.^[72] Only generous financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the other Gulf states, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ445E Battery

who feared the consequences of an Iranian victory, saved Iraq from bankruptcy.^[73] It was estimated that the Gulf states provided Iraq with an average of $60 billion US in subsides/per year.^[71] Brogan wrote in 1989:

The other Arab states came to the rescue. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ445E/B Battery

Iraq has one of the most unpleasant governments in the region and had shown constant hostility to the monarchies in Jordan, the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. However, the threat of Persian fundamentalism was far more feared, and thus the conservative Arab states could not afford to let Iraq be defeated. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ445EB Battery

The Gulf states were especially inclined to fear an Iranian victory after Khomeini announced that monarchy was an illegitimate and un-Islamic form of government.^[73] Khomeini's statement was widely understood as a call for the overthrow of the Gulf monarchies.^[73] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ455E Battery

Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had less than friendly relations with Iraq before 1982, and the reluctant decision to support Iraq was taken only because the consequences of an Iranian victory were considered worse than the continued existence of Saddam's regime.^[74] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ455E/B Battery

The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris wrote:

The virulent Iranian campaign, which at its peak seemed to be making the overthrow of the Saudi regime a war aim on a par with the defeat of Iraq, did have an effect on the Kingdom, but not the one the Iranians wanted: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ455EB Battery

instead of becoming more conciliatory, the Saudis became tougher, more self-confident, and less prone to seek compromise.

Saudi Arabia was said to provide Iraq with $1 billion US/month starting in mid-1982.^[72]

Ceasefire proposal

On 20 June 1982 Saddam announced that he was prepared to accept a ceasefire on the basis of the pre-war status quo.^[68] Bulloch and Morris wrote: Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E Battery

If the leaders in Tehran had accepted [the Iraqi ceasefire offer], they might have gained at the conference table what over six years they failed to achieve at a huge cost in men and material; but true to the bitterness and intransigence shown by both sides, Ayatollah Khomeini rejected the ceasefire offer and the Iranian troops fought on. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460E/B Battery

Iran would remain at war until all of its demands were met, the Ayatollah said - and one of those demands was the removal of Saddam Hussein, the one condition which the Iraqi President could never accept. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ460EB Battery

On 21 June 1982 Khomeini rejected the Iraqi peace offer in a speech and proclaimed that Iran would invade Iraq and would not stop until the Ba'ath regime was replaced by an Islamic Shia republic.^[68] Given that Saddam's offer of 1982 served as the basis of the 1988 ceasefire, Khomeini's decision extended the war for the next six years.^[77] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ470E Battery

The decision to invade Iraq was taken after much debate within the Iranian government.^[78] One faction comprising Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ470E/B Battery

President Ali Khamenei and the Army Chief of Staff General Ali Sayad Shirazi urged that now that all of Iranian soil had been liberated to accept the Iraqi ceasefire offer rather embark upon an invasion that was likely to take a heavy toll on Iran's youth and with uncertain prospects for victory.^[78] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ470EB Battery

In particular, General Shirazi was opposed to the invasion of Iraq on logistical grounds and said he was considering resignation if "unqualified people continued to meddle with the conduct of the war".^[78]

On the other side, there was a hardline fraction led by clerics on the Supreme Defence Council, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ480E Battery

whose leader was the politically powerful Speaker of the MajlisAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who favored continuing the war until the Ba'athists in Iraq were overthrown.^[78] Khomeini sided with the hardliners.^[78] In Baghdad, at a cabinet meeting, 
Sony VAIO VGN-FZ480E/B Battery

the Minister of Health Dr. Riyadh Ibrahim Hussein suggested that Hussein step down temporarily as a way of easing Iran towards a ceasefire.^[76] Saddam, annoyed, asked if anyone else in the Cabinet agreed with the Health Minister's idea. None raised their hands in support, and Dr. Hussein was shot later that day for treason.^[76] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ480EB Battery

Under the slogans "War, War until Victory" and "The Road to Jerusalem Goes through Karbala",^[79] Iran advanced. A tactic used in this advance noted throughout the world was the encouragement of heroism among young Iranian basij volunteers who launched human wave attacks on Iraqi positions. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ485U Battery

The volunteers were inspired before battle by tales of Ashura, the Battle of Karbala, and the supreme glory of martyrdom, and sometimes by an actor (usually a more mature soldier), playing the part of Imam Hossein himself riding a white horse, galloping along the lines, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ485U/B Battery

providing the inexperienced soldiers a vision of "the hero who would lead them into their fateful battle before they met their God".^[80] The "martyrs" signed "Passports to Paradise" (as admission forms to the basij were called), received a week of basic military training by the Pasdaran, and were sent directly to the front.^[78] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ485UB Battery

 Iran suffered massive losses in these attacks, as they were met with fierce resistance from defensive positions, along with artillery and rocket fire.^[58]

A great advantage that the Iraqis were to enjoy in the defence of their country was logistical.^[81] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ490 Battery

The front was close to all of the main Iraqi bases and arms depots, and Iraq's excellent roads allowed the Iraqi Army to be efficiently supplied.^[32] By contrast, the front in Iran was a considerable distance from the main Iranian bases and arms depots, and as such, Iranian troops and supplies had to travel through difficult roads across several mountain ranges before arriving at the front.^[32] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ490EAB Battery

On 13 July, Iranian units crossed the border in force, aiming towards the city of Basra, the second most important city in Iraq. However, the Iraqi troops facing them had entrenched themselves in formidable defences.^[82] Unlike the hastily improvised defences that the Iraqis had manned in Iran during the 1980–1981 occupation of the conquered territories, the border defences were, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ50B Battery

by necessity, well-developed even before the war, and the Iraqis were able to utilize a sophisticated network of bunkers and artillery positions.^[82] Iraqi morale, once greatly reduced by the failed invasion of Iran, improved markedly in 1982 when the Iraqis were fighting in the defence of their own nation.^[73] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ51B Battery

Saddam had also more than doubled the size of the Iraqi army from 200,000 soldiers (12 divisions and 3 independent brigades) to 500,000 (23 divisions and nine brigades).^[82]

Saddam's efforts paid off. Iran had been using combined-arms operations to great effect when it was attacking the Iraqi troops in its country, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ52B Battery

and had launched the iconic human-wave attacks with great support from artillery, aircraft, and tanks. However, lack of ammunition meant that the Iranians were now launching human-wave assaults with no support from other branches of the military. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ52B2 Battery

Tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers fell victim to the superior defences of the Iraqis in most operations after 1982; these defences would continue to hold in most sectors. During the advance on Basra, the Basij were used to clear the Iraqi minefields with their own feet in order to allow the Pasdaran to advance.^[82] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ61B Battery

In the Basra offensive, or Operation Ramadan, five Iranian human-wave attacks were met with withering fire from the Iraqis. The young, inexperienced Basij suffered particularly severe losses, especially since they volunteered to run into minefields in order to clear the way for the regular Iranian soldiers behind them. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ62B Battery

The Iranians were also hard-hit by the employment of chemical weapons and mustard gas by the Iraqis.

International reactions

In 1982, with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ70B Battery

supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War), and also supplying "dual-use" equipment and vehicles. Dual use items are civilian items such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances and communications gear as well as industrial technology that can have a military application.^[83] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ71B Battery

President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran".^[84] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ72B Battery

 President Reagan formalized this policy by issuing a National Security Decision Directive ("NSDD") to this effect in June, 1982. The Security Council passed Resolution 552 condemning attacks on commercial ships in the region.

1983–84: Strategic stalemate

In January 1983, an Iraqi-Soviet arms deal was signed in Moscow, Sony VAIO VGN-FZ90HS Battery

which led to the Soviet Union supplying Iraq with T-62 and T-72 tanks; Mig-23 and Mig-25 jets; and SS-21 and Scud-B missiles.^[86] By 1987, the Soviet Union had provided Iraq with 800 T-72 tanks, and dozens upon dozens of modern fighters and bombers.^[86] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ90NS Battery

Between 1980–82, France had supplied Iraq with $5.6 billion US worth of weapons such as fighters, tanks, self-propelled guns and helicopters.^[86]

After the failure of the 1982 summer offensives, Iran believed that a major effort along the entire breadth of the front would yield the victory that they desired. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ90S Battery

Iranian numerical superiority might have achieved a break-through if they had attacked across all parts of the front at the same time, but they still lacked the organization for such and assault. Iran was getting supplies from countries such as North Korea, Libya, and China. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ91HS Battery

The Iraqis had many more suppliers, including theUSSR, NATO members (France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, the United States, etc.), Brazil,Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

During the course of 1983, the Iranians launched five major assaults along the front.^[87] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ91NS Battery

None met with substantial success as the Iranians staged more massive "human wave" attacks on well-dug Iraqi positions without artillery, air, or armoured support.^[87] Khomeini's position on a truce remained unchanged.

On 7 February 1984, Saddam ordered aerial and missile attacks against eleven strategic Iranian cities that he had selected.^[88] Sony VAIO VGN-FZ91S Battery

The bombardment ceased on 22 February 1984. Iran soon retaliated against Iraqi urban centers, and these exchanges become known as the first "war of the cities". There would be five such exchanges throughout the course of the war.

The attacks on the Iranian cities, however, did not destroy the Iranian resolve to fight. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ92HS Battery

On 15 February 1984 the Iranians launched a major attack against the central section of the front where the Second Iraqi Army Corps was deployed, with 250,000 Iraqis facing 250,000 Iranians.^[88] The Iranian "final blow" offensives entitled Operation Dawn 5 (5–22 February 1984) Sony VAIO VGN-FZ92NS Battery

and Dawn 6 (22–24 February 1984) saw the Iranians attempting to take Kut al-Amara and sever the highway connecting Baghdad to Basra. Capture of this road would have made it extremely difficult for the Iraqis to supply and co-ordinate their defences, but the Iranian forces only came within 15 miles (24 km) of the highway. Sony VAIO VGN-FZ92S Battery

After advancing to within 15 miles (24 km) of the highway after much heavy fighting, the Iranians began Operation Kheibar on 24 February. This offensive intended to take Basra, but ended in failure as the Iraqi trenches proved to be impenetrable to the Iranian onslaught.^[89] Sony VAIO VGN-G118CN Battery

However, Operation Kheibar met with much greater success, at least initially. Involving a number of thrusts towards the key Iraqi city of Basra, the operation started on 24 February and lasted until 19 March. The Iraqi defences, under continuous strain since 15 February, seemed close to breaking conclusively. Sony VAIO VGN-G118GN/B Battery

The Iranians fought their way through the marshes of southern Iraq and capturedMajnoon Island, 40 miles (64 km) to the north of Basra.^[89] However, the Iraqis were saved by use of "defence-in-depth"—i.e., layering of one defensive line after another; Sony VAIO VGN-G118GN/T Battery

even if the Iranians stormed through the first line, they were usually so exhausted and had taken such heavy losses that attempts to storm through the second line resulted in failure.^[90]

The Iraqis managed to successfully stabilise the front, but despite a heavy Iraqi counterattack coupled with the use of mustard gasand sarin nerve gas, Sony VAIO VGN-G118TN/B Battery

the Iranians held their gains and would continue to hold them almost until the end of the war.^[3] The Iranian offensive ended on 19 March 1984 after much desperate fighting in the marshland with the Iraqis making heavy use of chemical weapons to halt the Iranian advance on Basra, Sony VAIO VGN-G118TN/S Battery

though the Iraqis failed in their attempts to re-take Majnun.^[89] At least 3,000 Iranians were killed in the fighting in the marshes, with Iraqi helicopter gunships being deployed to "hunt" the Iranian troops through the swampy land.^[89]

1984: 'Tanker War' in Persian Gulf

The so-called "Tanker War" started when Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the oil terminal at Kharg Island in early 1984.^[91] Sony VAIO VGN-G11VN/T Battery

Iran struck back by attacking tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Persian Gulf states supporting Iraq. Both nations attacked oil tankers and merchant ships, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive the opponent of trade. Sony VAIO VGN-G11VN/TC Battery

Iraq declared that all ships going to or from Iranian ports in the northern zone of the Persian Gulf were subject to attack.^[91]

In early 1984, Iraq was hard-pressed by a major Iranian offensive, and Saddam's hope in beginning the attacks on Iranian shipping was that the Iranians might do something extreme in retaliation, Sony VAIO VGN-G11XN/B Battery

such as closing the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic, and thereby bring American intervention into the war.^[91] The United States had threatened several times to go to war if the Strait of Hormuz was closed.^[91] For this reason, the Iranians limited their retaliatory attacks to Iraqi shipping, Sony VAIO VGN-G1AAPS Battery

leaving the Strait open to general passage.^[92] Iran attacked tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait, and then any tanker of the Persian Gulf states supporting Iraq. The air and small boat attacks did very little damage to Persian Gulf state economies, and Iran simply moved its shipping port to Larak Island in the strait of Hormuz.^[93] Sony VAIO VGN-G1AAPSA Battery

Iraq used its air power to enforce its threats, primarily helicopters, F-1 Mirage, and MiG-23 fighters armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles. After repeated Iraqi attacks on Iran's main exporting facility on Kharg Island, Iran attacked a Kuwaiti tanker near Bahrain on 13 May 1984, and a Saudi tanker in Saudi waters on 16 May. Sony VAIO VGN-G1AAPSB Battery

Attacks on ships of noncombatant nations in the Persian Gulf sharply increased thereafter, and this phase of the Iraq-Iran war was dubbed the "Tanker War". The Iranian attacks against Saudi shipping led to Saudi F-15s shooting down an Iranian aircraft on 5 June 1984. Sony VAIO VGN-G1AAPSC Battery

The Iranian Navy imposed a naval blockade of Iraq, using its British-built frigates to stop and inspect any ships thought to be trading with Iraq. They operated with virtual impunity, as Iraqi pilots had little training in hitting naval targets. Some Iranian warships attacked tankers with ship-to-ship missiles, Sony VAIO VGN-G1ABNS Battery

while others used their radars to guide land-based anti-ship missiles to their targets.

Though attacks on international shipping alarmed the United States, no significant American response occurred until 1987.^[92] After several Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti shipping, Sony VAIO VGN-G1KAP Battery

the United States Navy started to escort Kuwaiti tankers in March 1987, provided that they flew the American flag.^[92] In April 1987, the Soviet Navy also started escorting Kuwaiti tankers.^[92]

A US Navy ship, the USS Stark, was struck on 17 May 1987 by two Exocet anti-ship missiles fired from an Iraqi F-1 Mirage^[95][96] plane. Sony VAIO VGN-G1KBN Battery

The Iraqi fighter fired the Exocet missiles at about the time the fighter was given a routine radio warning by the Stark.^[97] The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar and warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck.^[98] Sony VAIO VGN-G1KBNA Battery

Both missiles hit the ship, and one exploded in crew quarters, killing 37 sailors and wounding 21.^[98]

Attacks on shipping

Lloyd's of London, a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian sailors. Sony VAIO VGN-G1LAP Battery

The largest portion of the attacks was directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on 1 November 1986, Kuwait formally petitioned foreign powers to protect its shipping. The Soviet Union agreed to charter tankers starting in 1987, and the United States offered to provide protection for tankers flying the U.S. flag on 7 March 1987 (Operation Earnest Will and Operation Prime Chance).^[99] Sony VAIO VGN-G1LBN Battery

During the course of the war, Iran attacked two Soviet Navy ships which were protecting Kuwaiti tankers.^[100] Notably, the Seawise Giant, the largest ship ever built, was struck and damaged by Iraqi Exocet missiles as she was carrying Iranian crude oil out of the Gulf.^[101] Sony VAIO VGN-G218LN/T Battery

1985–86: Offensives and retreats

With Iraqi armed forces now benefitting from financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Persian Gulf states, and substantial arms purchases from theSoviet Union, China and France (among others), Sony VAIO VGN-G218N/B Battery

Saddam launched a new offensive on 28 January 1985, for the first time since early 1980. This, however, did not produce any significant gains, and the Iranians responded in kind with another offensive directed against Basra, codenamed Operation Badr, on 11 March 1985.^[102] Sony VAIO VGN-G21XP/B Battery

Ayatollah Khomeini urged Iranians on, declaring, "It is our belief that Saddam wishes to return Islam to blasphemy and polytheism … if America becomes victorious … and grants victory to Saddam, Islam will receive such a blow that it will not be able to raise its head for a long time …Sony VAIO VGN-G2AANS Battery

The issue is one of Islam versus blasphemy, and not of Iran versus Iraq."^[103]

The failure of the unsupported human wave attacks during 1984 had prompted Iran to develop a better working relationship between the army and the Pasdaran.^[102] Sony VAIO VGN-G2AAPS Battery

The Iranian government also worked on molding the Revolutionary Guard units into a much more conventional fighting force. The attack did succeed in capturing a part of the Baghdad-Basra highway that had proven elusive during Operation Dawn 5 and Operation Dawn 6. As a result of the improved Iranian tactics, Sony VAIO VGN-G2AAPSA Battery

Iraqi forces suffered 10,000–12,000 casualties in Badr, while the Iranians took 15,000 casualites.^[102] Saddam responded to this strategic emergency by launching chemical attacks against the Iranian positions along the highway and by initiating the second "war of the cities" with a massive air and missile campaign against twenty Iranian population centres, including Tehran.^[102] Sony VAIO VGN-G2AAPSB Battery

On 9 February 1986, the Iranians launched Operation Dawn 8, in which 100,000 troops comprising 5 Army divisions and 50,000 men from the Pasdaran and the Basij advanced in a two-pronged offensive into southern Iraq.^[104] Unlike the earlier offensives, Dawn 8 was planned entirely by professional Army officers, Sony VAIO VGN-G2AAPSC Battery

all of whom had began their careers under the Shah.^[104] The Iranians launched a feint attack against Basra, which was stopped by the Iraqis.^[104] Meanwhile, the main Iranian blow fell on the strategically important Fao peninsula, which fell after only 24 hours of fighting.^[104] Sony VAIO VGN-G2KAN Battery

The Iranians launched their assault on the peninsula at night, their men arriving on rubber boats.^[105] After taking the Fao, the Iranians built a pontoon bridgeand began to dig in.^[105] On 12 February 1986, the Iraqis began a counter-offensive to re-take the Fao, which failed after a week of intense fighting.^[104] Sony VAIO VGN-G2KANA Battery

Saddam sent one of his best commanders, General Maher Abd-Rashid and the Republican Guard to begin an new offensive to re-capture the Fao on 24 February 1986.^[104] A new round of intensive fighting took place, with the Iraqis losing 10,000 men and the Iranians 30,000 over the next four days.^[104] Sony VAIO VGN-G2KBNA Battery

The Iraqi offensives were supported by helicopter gunships, hundreds of tanks and a huge bombing offensive by the Iraqi Air Force.^[106] Despite having an advantage in firepower and the extensive use of chemical warfare, the Iraqi attempt to re-take the Fao again ended in failure.^[104] Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/S Battery

The fall of the Fao and the failure of the Iraqi counter-offensives were huge blows to the prestige of the Ba'ath regime, and led to fears all over the Gulf that Iran might win the war.^[104] In particular, Kuwait felt menaced with Iranian troops only ten miles away, and increased its support of Iraq accordingly.^[107] Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/T Battery

In March 1986, the Iranians tried to follow up their success by attempting to take Umm Qasr, which would have had the effect of severing Iraq from the Gulf and placing Iranian troops on the border with Kuwait.^[104] This offensive failed, however.^[104] Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/W Battery

 In May 1986, the Iraqis took the Iranian border town of Mehran, and made a proposal for swapping Mehran for Fao.^[108] The Iraqi offer was rejected, and in July 1986, the Iranians re-took Mehran.^[108]

1987–88: Towards a ceasefire

1987 saw a renewed wave of Iranian offensives against targets in both the north and south of Iraq. Sony VAIO VGN-NR180E/S Battery

Iranian forces launched Operation Karbala-5 in an attempt to capture Basra, but repulsed after more than two months of fighting, resulting in 20,000 Iraqi and 65,000 Iranian casualties. Among those killed was Iranian commander Hossein Kharrazi. Sony VAIO VGN-NR180E/T Battery

The Iranians came close to breaking through the Iraqi lines and taking Basra, but in the end, the strength of the Iraqi lines again halted the Iranian offensive.^[71] However, the Iranians came close enough to Basra to bring up their artillery, and in the ensuing bombardments, the city was largely destroyed.^[71] Sony VAIO VGN-NR290E/S Battery

The Iranians encountered more success later in the year in the north with Operations Nasr 4 and Karbala-10, threatening to capture the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk and other northern oilfields. However, the Iranian forces were unable to consolidate their gains and continue their advance, Sony VAIO VGN-NR290E/T Battery

and so little land changed hands in 1987. On 20 July, the Security Council of the United Nations passed the US-sponsored Resolution 598, which called for an end to fighting and a return to pre-war boundaries.^[109]

In February 1988, Saddam began the fifth and most deadly "war of the cities".^[110] Sony VAIO VGN-NR298E/S Battery

Over the next two months, Iraq launched over 200 missiles at Iranian cities.^[110] In March 1988, the Iranians began an offensive in Iraqi Kurdistan with the aim of capturing the Darbandi Khan reservoir and the power plant at Dukan, which supplied Iraq with much of its electricity.^[111] Sony VAIO VGN-NR460E/L Battery

Though the Iranians advanced to within sight of Dukan, and captured 400 square miles (1,000 km²) and 4,000 Iraqi troops, the offensive failed due to the Iraqi use of chemical warfare.^[111]

On 17 April 1988, a new Iraqi offensive was launched, retaking the Fao peninsula after three days of fighting.^[110] Sony VAIO VGN-NR460E/P Battery

Following this, the Iraqis began a sustained drive to clear the Iranians out of all of southern Iraq.^[111] In May 1988, the Iraqis expelled the Iranians from Salamchech and retook Majnoon Island.^[110] During the fighting in the spring of 1988, the Iranians showed signs of collapsing morale.^[81] The British journalist Patrick Brogan reported: Sony VAIO VGN-NR498E/L Battery

Reports from the front, both at Faw [Fao] and outside Basra, indicated that the Iranian resistance was surprisingly weak. The army that had shown such courage and élan early in the war now broke in a rout, and fled before the Arabs.

During the 1988 battles, the Iranians seemed tired and worn out by nearly eight years of war, and "put up very little resistance" to the Iraqi offensives.^[112] Sony VAIO VGN-NR498E/S Battery

As the Iraqis systematically cleared the Iranians from the vicinity of Basra, a series of American-Iranian naval clashes in the Gulf led Iran to fear American intervention.^[113] At this point, elements of the Iranian leadership, led by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, decided to sue for peace.^[114] Sony VAIO VGN-NR498E/T Battery

On 20 July 1988, Iran announced its willingness to accept a ceasefire by accepting Resolution 598.^[115] In a radio address, an announcer read out a statement by Khomeini, in which he expressed his deep displeasure and reluctance about accepting the ceasefire: Sony VAIO VGN-NR498E/W Battery

Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Happy are those who have lost their lives in this convoy of light. Unhappy am I that I still survive and have drunk the poisoned chalice.

Iraq, on the other hand, announced it was not willing to accept Resolution 598 until Khomeini explicitly disavowed his call for the overthrow of Saddam .^[117] Sony VAIO VGN-NR50 Battery

Over the next few weeks, Iraq launched several limited offensives into Iran to seize border territory as a way of pressuring Khomeini to disavow his calls for regime change in Iraq.^[118] At the same time, Saddam came under heavy pressure from the Gulf states, who were his largest creditors to accept the Iranian offer and finally end the war.^[119] Sony VAIO VGN-NR50B Battery

In July 1988 Iraqi airplanes dropped chemical cyanide bombs on the Iranian Kurdish village of Zardan (as they had done four months earlier at their own Kurdish village of Halabja). Hundreds were killed at once, and the survivors are still suffering from a variety of physical and mental disorders. Sony VAIO VGN-NR51 Battery

Following these major setbacks, Iran accepted the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 598 and, on 20 August 1988, peace was restored.^[120] The news of the end of the war was greeted with scenes of wild celebration in Baghdad with people dancing in the streets; Sony VAIO VGN-NR51B Battery

in Tehran, however, the end of the war was greeted with a glum, sad silence as Iran settled for the same terms it had rejected in 1982, thus meaning that the last six years of the war had been in vain.^[121] Sony VAIO VGN-NR52 Battery

The People's Mujahedin of Iran started their ten-day operation (Operation Mersad) after the Iranian government accepted UN Resolution 598. While Iraqi forces attacked Khuzestan, the Mujahedin attacked western Iran and battled the Pasdaran for Kermanshah. Sony VAIO VGN-NR52B Battery

Close air support from the Iraqis contributed to the gains that the Mujahedin made. However, under heavy international pressure for ending the war, Saddam withdrew his fighter aircraft, allowing Iranian paratroopers landed Mojahedin lines. The operation ended in a defeat for the Mujahedin. Casualty figures range from 2,000 to as high as 10,000. Sony VAIO VGN-NR71B Battery

Iraq

At first, Saddam followed a policy of attempting to ensure that Iraqi population suffered from the war as little as possible.^[122] There was little rationing, and civilian projects began before the war continued.^[122] Sony VAIO VGN-NR71B2 Battery

At the same time, the already extensive personality cult around Saddam reached new heights of adulation while the regime tightened its control over the military.^[123] After the Iranian victories of the spring of 1982 and the Syrian closure of Iraq's main pipeline, Saddam did a volte-face on his policy towards the home front.^[124] Sony VAIO VGN-NR72B Battery

A policy of austerity and total war was introduced, with the entire population being mobilized for the war effort.^[124] All Iraqis were ordered to donate blood, mass demonstrations of loyalty towards Saddam became more common, and some 100,000 Iraqi civilians were ordered to clear the reeds in the southern marshes.^[124] Sony VAIO VGN-NS10E/S Battery

To secure the loyalty of the Shia population, Saddam began a policy of allowing more Shias into the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and the government, and started efforts to improve Shia living standards, which tended to be much lower than those of the Iraqi Arab Sunnis.^[125] Sony VAIO VGN-NS10J/S Battery

As part of the effort to ensure Iraqi Shia support for the war, Saddam had the Iraqi state pay for the costs of restoring the tomb of the Imam Ali with white marble being imported from Italy.^[125]

Despite the costs of the war, the Iraqi regime made generous contributions to Shia waqf (religious endowments) Sony VAIO VGN-NS10L/S Battery

as part of the price of buying Iraqi Shia support.^[126] The importance of winning Shia support was such that the expansion of welfare services in Shia areas went on at a time when the Iraqi regime was pursuing a policy of rigid austerity in all other fields other than the military.^[127] Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/L Battery

Khomeini's behavior during his time in exile in Najaf in the 1960s-1970s where he often quarrelled with the leaders of the Iraqi ulema helped to explain why many of the Iraqi Shia ulema supported the Iraqi regime against him in the 1980s.^[128] On the whole, Iraqi Shias supported their country's war effort against Iran.^[129] Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/S Battery

The British journalist Patrick Brogan reported:

Even the Shiites of Iraq preferred the vicious tyranny of Saddam Hussein, Sunni though he was, to the Ayatollah's Shiite paradise: Hussein was an Arab, Khomeini a Persian, and 13 centuries of hostility are not to be dispersed by a Friday sermon. Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/W Battery

During the first years of the war in the early 1980s, the Iraqi government tried to accommodate the Kurds in order to focus on the war against Iran. In 1983, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan agreed to cooperate with Baghdad, but the Kurdish Democratic Party remained opposed.^[130] Sony VAIO VGN-NS115N/S Battery

In 1983, Saddam signed an autonomy agreement with Jalal Talabani of the PUK, through subsequently Saddam reneged on his promise of Kurdish autonomy.^[63] By 1985, the PUK and KDP had joined forces, and Iraqi Kurdistan become the scene of widespread guerrilla warfare right up to the end of the war in 1988.^[63] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ER/S Battery

At the same time that these conciliatory policies were being implemented, however, Saddam's government began a campaign of terror in the summer of 1982. More than 300 Iraqi Army officers were executed for their failures on the battlefield.^[125] In 1983, a major crackdown was launched on the leadership of the Shia community. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11E/S Battery

Ninety members of the al-Hakim family (an influential family of Shia clerics whose leading members were the émigrés Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim) were arrested and six hanged.^[125] Even more extensive was the crackdown on the Kurds that saw 8,000 members of the Barzani clan, Sony VAIO VGN-NS11J/S Battery

whose leaderMassoud Barzani was also the leader of the KDP summarily executed.^[63] From 1983 onwards, a campaign of increasingly brutal repression was started against the Iraqi Kurds, characterised by Israeli historian Efraim Karsh as having "assumed genocidal proportions" by 1988.^[63] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11L/S Battery

The Al-Anfal Campaign was intended to "pacify" Iraqi Kurdistan permanently.^[63]

Iran

The Iranian government saw the outbreak of war as a heaven-sent chance to strengthen its position and consolidate the Islamic revolution.^[63] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11MR/S Battery

The war was presented to the Iranian people as a glorious jihad and a test of Iranian national character.^[131] From the very beginning, the Iranian regime followed a policy of total war, and attempted to mobilize the entire nation for the struggle.^[132] The war furthered the decline of the Iranian economy that began with the Islamic revolution in 1978–79.^[133] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11M/S Battery

Between 1979 and 1981, foreign exchange reserves fell from $14.6 billion US to $1 billion.^[134] As a result of the war, living standards dropped dramatically in Iran in the 1980s.^[134] The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris described 1980s Iran as "a dour and joyless place" ruled by a harsh regime that "seemed to have nothing to offer, but endless war".^[135] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11SR/S Battery

As part of the total war effort, the regime established a group known as the Reconstruction Campaign. Members of this group enjoyed exemption from conscription and were instead sent into the countryside to work on the farms to replace the men serving at the front.^[136] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11S/S Battery

Iranian workers had a day's pay deducted from their pay cheques every month to help finance the war, and mass campaigns were launched to encourage the public to donate food, money and blood for the soldiers.^[134]To further help finance the war, the Iranian government banned the import of all non-essential items, Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ZR/S Battery

and started a major effort to rebuild the damaged oil plants.^[136] Iranian oil technicians did much to keep their nation's oil industry going in the face of much difficulty, and thus ensured that Iran could pay for the war.^[136]

In 1981, severe civil unrest broke out on the streets of Iranian cities as the left-wing Mujaheddin e-Khalq (MEK) attempted to seize power.^[137] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11Z/S Battery

In June 1981, street battles between the MEK and the Revolutionary Guard raged for several days with hundreds killed on both sides.^[138] The MEK started an assassination campaign that had killed hundreds of regime officials by the fall of 1981.^[139] Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/S Battery

On 28 June 1981, the MEK assassinated the secretary-general of the Islamic Republican Party, Mohammad Beheshti, and killed the President, Mohammad-Ali Rajai, on 30 August.^[139]

In September 1981, street battles again raged between the MEK and the Revolutionary Guard.^[139] Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/W Battery

Thousands of left-wing Iranians (many of whom were not associated with the MEK) were shot and hanged by the government in the aftermath.^[139] Even after their defeat, the MEK waged a campaign of bombings and assassinations which was met with a policy of mass executions of suspected MEK members that lasted until 1985.^[137] Sony VAIO VGN-NS12S/S Battery

In addition to the open civil conflict with the MEK, the Iranian government was faced with an Iraqi-supported rebellion in Iranian Kurdistan, which was gradually put down through a campaign of systematic repression.^[136] Anti-war student demonstrations also took place in 1985, which were crushed by government activists.^[134] Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/P Battery

One of the few exceptions to the repressive policies of the government was the tolerance shown to the anti-war Islamic Liberation Movement led by former prime minister Mehdi Bazargan.^[136] In January 1985, Bazargan criticized the war after 1982 in a telegram to the United Nations as un-Islamic and illegitimate, Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/W Battery

arguing that Khomeini should have accepted Saddam's truce offer of 1982 instead of attempting to overthrow the Ba'ath.^[136] Khomeini was annoyed by Bazargan's telegram, and issued a lengthy public rebuttal in which he defended the war as both Islamic and just.^[136] Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/S Battery

By 1987, Iranian morale had begun to crumble, reflected in the failure of several government campaigns to recruit "martyrs" for the front.^[134] Israeli historianEfraim Karsh points to the decline in morale in 1987–88 as being a major factor in Iran's decision to accept the ceasefire of 1988.^[134] Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/W Battery

The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that by 1988:

The economy was collapsing. War and revolution had taken their toll. Only war industries survived, and the standard of living was dropping precipitously. There were no longer enough recruits for the Revolutionary Guards; Sony VAIO VGN-NS21Z/S Battery

the Iranian war machine was no longer capable of supplying the huge armies that had marched singing to war in the early days … The country was sliding steadily into bankruptcy. Strict Islamic law forbids usury, and Khomeini interpreted that to mean Iran could not borrow against future oil revenues to meet the expenses of war. Sony VAIO VGN-NS31M/P Battery

Iran paid cash, and when the reserves were exhausted, Iran had to rely on income from its oil exports. Oil revenue dropped from $20 billion in 1982 to $5 billion in 1988. At an OPEC meeting in June 1988, Saudi Arabia, who had broken diplomatic relations with Iran two months earlier, 
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vetoed a last, desperate Iranian initiative to cut production and thus raise prices again.

In a public letter to Khomeini sent in May 1988, Bazargan wrote:

Since 1986, you have not stopped proclaiming victory, and now you are calling upon population to resist until victory. Is that not an admission of failure on your part?^[140] Sony VAIO VGN-NS31S/S Battery

Bazargan went to criticize Khomeini for the war, which Bazargan stated was bankrupting Iran, and slaughtering its youth for no good purpose.^[140]

Comparison of Iraqi and Iranian military strength

At the beginning of the war, Iraq held a clear advantage in armour, while both nations were roughly equal in terms of artillery.Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/P Battery

The gap only widened as the war went on. Iran started with a stronger air force, but over time, the balance of power reversed in Iraq's favour. The United States and the United Kingdom sold arms and weaponry to Iraq throughout the eight year war.

During the war, Iraq was regarded by the West (specifically the United States) Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/S Battery

and Soviet Union as a counterbalance to post-revolutionary Iran.^[144] The Soviet Union, which was Iraq's main arms supplier for the entire duration of the war did not wish for the end of its alliance with Iraq, and was alarmed at Saddam's threats if the Kremlin did not provide him with the weapons he wanted, Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/W Battery

then Iraq would find new arms suppliers in the West and in China.^[145] The British journalists John Bulloch and Harvey Morris wrote:

Throughout the war the Soviet Union remained Iraq's main supplier, as it had always been - Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/P Battery

the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed by Moscow and Baghdad in 1972 was a formalisation of the special relationship between the two countries which had existed from the time of the overthrow of the monarchy, and survived the rift between the Ba'ath and the Communist Party of Iraq, Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/W Battery

with all the bloodshed that entailed.

In addition, the Soviet Union hoped to use the prospect of reducing arms supplies to Iraq as leverage for forming a Soviet-Iranian alliance.^[147] The basis of American policy was described by Bulloch and Morris as follows: Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/L Battery

Part of the US dilemma in the Gulf was that the United States was committed to the territorial integrity of a state, Iran, whose rulers were implacably hostile to it. Washington wished to protect other states in the region from Iranian expansionism as well as protecting Iran from that of the Soviet Union, Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/S Battery

so that coupled with a natural and publicly supported wish to do down the Khomeini regime was a more pragmatic need to see the survival of a stable, independent and anti-communist Iran. The central importance of Iran in America's geopolitical strategy until the advent of the Gorbachev era forced a reappraisal, was outlined by Henry Kissingner in 1982: Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/W Battery

"The focus of Iranian pressure at this moment is Iraq. There are few governments in the world less deserving of our support and less capable of using it. Had Iraq won the war, the fear in the Gulf and the threat to our interest would be scarcely less than it is today. Still, given the importance of the balance of power in the area, Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/L Battery

it is in our interests to promote a ceasefire in that conflict; through not a cost that will preclude an eventual rapprochement with Iran either if a more moderate regime replaces Khomenini's or if the present rulers wake up to geopolitical reality [sic] that the historic threat to Iran's independence has always come from the country with which it shares a border of 1,500 miles (2,400 km):Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/S Battery

the Soviet Union. A raprochement with Iran, of course, must await at a minimum Iran's abandonment of hegemonic aspirations [sic] in the Gulf".

Iran, in other words, should be befriended if possible, but must above, be contained.

The support of Iraq took the form of technological aid, intelligence, Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/W Battery

the sale of dual-use and military equipment and satellite intelligence to Iraq. While there was direct combat between Iran and the United States, it is not universally agreed that the fighting between the U.S. and Iran was specifically to benefit Iraq, or for separate, although occurring at the same time, issues between the U.S. and Iran. Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/L Battery

American ambiguity towards which side to support was summed up byHenry Kissinger when the American statesman remarked that "it's a pity they [Iran and Iraq] both can't lose."^[149]

Richard Murphy, the Assistant Secretary of State testified to Congress Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/S Battery

in 1984 that the Reagan administration believed that a victory for either Iran or Iraq was "neither militarily feasible nor strategically desirable".^[150] France, which from the 1970s onwards had been one of Iraq's closest allies, was a major supplier of military hardware to Iraq.^[151] Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/W Battery

The French sold weapons equal to the sum of US$5 billion, which comprised well over a quarter of Iraq's total arms stockpile.^[151] The People's Republic of China, which had no direct stake in the victory of either side and whose interests in the war were entirely commercial, freely sold arms to both sides.^[152] Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/L Battery

More than 30 countries provided support to Iraq, Iran, or both. Iraq, in particular, had a complex clandestine procurement network to obtain munitions and critical materials, which, in some transactions, involved 10–12 countries. Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/P Battery

Also, a number of Arab mercenaries and volunteers from Egypt^[153] and Jordan called the Yarmouk Brigade^[154] participated in the war alongside Iraqis. Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/S Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/W Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-NS240E/L Battery