Iran–Iraq War

Iran–Iraq relations , Houari Boumédiène, and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975 In 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty to settle their dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab river; they agreed that Iranian ships had to pay tolls when they used the river. In 1969, Iran broke the treaty, as their ships no longer paid the tolls. The Shah of Iran argued that the treaty had been unfair. Iraq threatened war, but did nothing at this time, as their weaker military became threatened when Iranian naval forces sailed down the Shatt al-Arab in a show of force. The new Iraqi–Iranian tensions led to significant bloodshed, which lasted until the 1975 Algiers Agreement, when Iraq ceded to Iran the eastern bank of the river. After the Iranian Revolution Tensions between Iraq and Iran were fuelled by Iran's Islamic revolution and its appearance of being a Pan-Islamic force, in contrast to Iraq's Arab nationalism. Despite Iraq's goal of regaining the Shatt al-Arab, the Iraqi government initially seemed to welcome the Iranian revolution, which overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was seen as a common enemy. Khomeini called on Iraqis to overthrow the Ba'ath government, which was received with considerable anger in Baghdad. The attempt failed and instead killed several students. Three days later, the funeral procession for the dead students was bombed. This failed assassination plot, carried out by an Iran-backed group, formed a part of Iraq's casus belli for the invasion of Iran. Iraq's immediate response was to order the execution of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shi'ite cleric seen as the public face of the Dawa movement, along with al-Sadr's sister. On 30 April, Iraq organised an attack on the Iranian embassy in London. Saddam's goal was to supplant Egypt as the "leader of the Arab world" and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf. He saw Iran's increased weakness due to revolution, sanctions, and international isolation. Saddam had invested heavily in Iraq's military since his defeat against Iran in 1975, buying large amounts of weaponry from the Soviet Union and France. Between 1973 and 1980, Iraq purchased numerous tanks and Soviet-made aircraft. By 1980, Iraq possessed 242,000 soldiers, second only to Egypt in the Arab world, 2,350 tanks and 340 combat aircraft. Watching the disintegration of the Iranian army, he saw an opportunity to attack, using the threat of Islamic Revolution as a pretext. Iraqi military intelligence reported in July 1980 that despite Iran's bellicose rhetoric, "it is clear that, at present, Iran has no power to launch wide offensive operations against Iraq, or to defend on a large scale." Days before the Iraqi invasion and in the midst of rapidly escalating cross-border skirmishes, Iraqi military intelligence again reiterated on 14 September that "the enemy deployment organization does not indicate hostile intentions and appears to be taking on a more defensive mode". On 8 March 1980, Iran announced it was withdrawing its ambassador from Iraq, downgraded its diplomatic ties to the charge d'affaires level, and demanded that Iraq do the same. Iranian military preparations In Iran, severe officer purges, including numerous executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the new Revolutionary Court judge, and shortages of spare parts for Iran's American and British-made equipment had crippled Iran's once-mighty military. Between February and September 1979, Iran's government executed 85 senior generals and forced many other generals into early retirement. However, by the eve of war with Iraq, the recently formidable Iranian army was in many crucial ways a shell of its former self, having been badly weakened by losses in experienced personnel. The desertion rate had reached 60%, the officer corps was devastated and its most highly skilled soldiers and aviators had been exiled, imprisoned, or executed. When the invasion occurred, many pilots and officers were released from prison, or had their executions commuted to combat the Iraqis. Throughout the war, Iran never managed to fully recover from this flight of human capital. Many junior officers were promoted to generals, resulting in the army being more integrated as a part of the regime by the war's end. Created to protect the new regime and serve as a counterbalance to the army, the IRGC had been trained to act only as a militia and struggled to adapt as needed following the Iraqi invasion, initially refusing to fight alongside the regular army, resulting in many defeats. It was not until 1982 that the two groups began carrying out combined operations. The Basij paramilitary was founded in response to the invasion. They were poorly armed, and had members as young as 12 and as old as 70. or establish suzerainty over, Iran's Khuzestan province, but Saddam Hussein publicly denied this in November 1980. Border conflicts leading up to the war on the Iran–Iraq border On 10 September 1980, Iraq forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad that it had been promised under the terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement but that Iran had never handed over, leading to both Iran and Iraq voiding the treaty, on 14 September and 17 September, respectively. As a result, the only outstanding border dispute between Iran and Iraq at the time of the Iraqi invasion of 22 September was the question of whether Iranian ships would fly Iraqi flags and pay Iraq navigation fees for a stretch of the Shatt al-Arab spanning several miles. ==Course of the war==

1980: Iraqi invasion in Tehran after Iraqi forces attacked Tehran on 22 September 1980 |right Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise air strikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the Iranian Air Force. The attack failed to cripple the Iranian Air Force: while it damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, it did not destroy a significant number of aircraft. The Iraqi Air Force was only able to strike in depth with a few aircraft, and Iran had built hardened aircraft shelters where most of its combat aircraft were stored. The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion, mounting three simultaneous attacks along a front. Saddam hoped an attack on Iran would lead to the new government's downfall, or at least end Iran's calls for his overthrow. Iraqi Minister of Defence Adnan Khayr Allah played a crucial role in rebuilding and modernising the Iraqi military. equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles Though the Iraqi air invasion surprised the Iranians, their air force retaliated the day after with a large-scale attack against Iraqi air bases and infrastructure in Operation Kaman 99. Groups of fighter jets attacked targets throughout Iraq, such as oil facilities, dams, petrochemical plants, and oil refineries, and included Mosul Airbase, Baghdad, and the Kirkuk oil refinery. Iraq was taken by surprise at the strength of the retaliation, which inflicted heavy losses and economic disruption, but Iraqi air defences also inflicted heavy losses. Iranian Army Aviation's helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers began attacking the advancing Iraqi divisions; Meanwhile, Iraqi air attacks on Iran were repelled by Iran's fighter jets using missiles, which downed a dozen of Iraq's Soviet-built fighters in the first two days of battle. and air strikes were used instead. The invasion's first waves were a series of air strikes targeted at Iranian airfields. Iraq also attempted to bomb Tehran, Iran's capital, into submission. 1981: Stalemate For the next eight months, both sides were on a defensive footing, with the exception of the Battle of Dezful, as the Iranians needed more time to reorganise their forces after the damage inflicted by the purge of 1979–80. During this period, fighting consisted mainly of artillery duels and raids. Iran launched dozens of "human wave assaults". Battle of Dezful during a visit to the frontlines On 5 January 1981, Iran had reorganised its forces enough to launch a large-scale offensive, Operation Nasr. The Iranians launched their major armoured offensive from Dezful in the direction of Susangerd, consisting of tank brigades, In 1984, Banisadr left the coalition because of a dispute, and set up a base on the Iranian border. Attack on H3 is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.|right The Iraqi Air Force, badly damaged by the Iranians, was moved to the H-3 Air Base in western Iraq, near the Jordanian border and away from Iran. On 3 April 1981, the Iranian Air Force launched a surprise attack on H3, destroying Iraqi combat aircraft. Despite it and other successful air attacks, the Iranian Air Force was forced to cancel its successful 180-day air offensive and abandoned their attempted control of Iraqi airspace. They had been seriously weakened by sanctions and pre-war purges and further damaged by a fresh purge after the impeachment crisis of President Banisadr. The Iranian Air Force could not survive further attrition, and decided to limit their losses, abandoning efforts to control Iraqi airspace. The Iranian air force would henceforth fight on the defensive, trying to deter the Iraqis rather than engaging them. While throughout 1981–1982 the Iraqi air force would remain weak, within the next few years they would rearm and expand again, and begin to regain the strategic initiative. Dispute over use of human wave attacks Various sources claim that because Iran lacked heavy weapons, This would be followed up by the more experienced Revolutionary Guard infantry, who would breach the weakened Iraqi lines, Large numbers of troops would be used, aimed at overwhelming the Iraqi lines (usually the weakest portion, typically manned by the Iraqi Popular Army), regardless of losses. Operations were often carried out during the night and deception operations, infiltrations, and manoeuvres became more common. ending the Iraqi Siege of Abadan in September. Operation Tariq al-Quds On 29 November 1981, Iran began Operation Tariq al-Quds with three army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades. The Iraqis failed to properly patrol their occupied areas, and the Iranians constructed a road through the unguarded sand dunes, launching their attack from the Iraqi rear. on 19 March. Using a large number of tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets, they attacked the Iranian buildup around the Roghabiyeh pass. Though Saddam and his generals assumed they had succeeded, in reality the Iranian forces remained fully intact. Iraqi forces were driven away from Shush, Dezful and Ahvaz, and the Iranians destroyed numerous Iraqi tanks and armoured vehicles. During the whole of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas, 33,000 Iraqi soldiers were captured by the Iranians. The Iraqi Air Force was also left in poor shape: after losing up to 55 aircraft since early December 1981, they had only 100 intact fighter-bombers and interceptors. Only three squadrons of fighter-bombers capable of operations inside Iran. The Iraqi Army Air Corps was in slightly better shape, and could still operate more than 70 helicopters. In response to their failures against the Iranians in Khorramshahr, Saddam ordered executions of more than a dozen high-ranking officers. Syria's closure of the Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline left Iraq with the pipeline to Turkey as the only means of exporting oil, along with transporting oil by tanker truck to the port of Aqaba in Jordan. The Turkish pipeline's capacity was insufficient to pay for the war. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the other Gulf states saved Iraq from bankruptcy Though Iraq had previously been hostile towards other Gulf states, they feared Iranian ideology more than Iraq. With Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. increased its support of the Iraqi government, supplying intelligence, economic aid, and dual-use equipment and vehicles, as well as normalising relations (which had been broken during the 1967 Six-Day War). In 1982, Reagan removed Iraq from the list of countries "supporting terrorism" and sold weapons such as howitzers to Iraq via Jordan. Ceasefire proposal On 20 June 1982, Saddam announced that he wanted to sue for peace and proposed an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal from Iranian territory within two weeks. Khomeini responded by saying the war would not end until a new government was installed in Iraq and reparations paid. He proclaimed that Iran would invade Iraq and would not stop until the Ba'ath regime was replaced by an Islamic republic. At a cabinet meeting in Baghdad, Minister of Health Riyadh Hussein suggested that Saddam could step down temporarily as a way of easing Iran towards a ceasefire, and then afterwards would come back to power. Saddam, annoyed, asked if anyone else in the Cabinet agreed with the Health Minister's idea. When no one raised their hand in support, he escorted Riyadh to the next room, then shot him. Saddam had also more than doubled the size of the Iraqi army, from 200,000 soldiers to 500,000. Final operations of 1982 After Iran's failure in Operation Ramadan, Iran launched two small offensives aimed at reclaiming the Sumar Hills, and isolating the Iraqi pocket at Naft Shahr at the international border, both of which were part of the disputed territories still under Iraqi occupation. They then aimed to capture the Iraqi border town of Mandali. and continued to dominate in combat. However, aircraft shortages, the size of defended territory/airspace, and American intelligence supplied to Iraq allowed the Iraqis to exploit gaps in Iranian airspace. Iraqi air campaigns met little opposition, striking over half of Iran, as the Iraqis were able to gain air superiority towards the end of the war. Operation Before the Dawn In Operation Before the Dawn, launched in February 1983, the Iranians shifted focus from the southern to the central and northern sectors. Employing 200,000 Revolutionary Guardsmen, Iran attacked near Amarah, Iraq, southeast of Baghdad, in an attempt to reach the highways connecting northern and southern Iraq. The attack was stalled by hilly escarpments, forests, and river torrents across the way to Amarah, but the Iraqis could not force the Iranians back. Iran directed artillery on Basra, Amarah, and Mandali. Iranian offensives became more complex and involved extensive manoeuvre warfare using primarily light infantry. Iran launched frequent, and sometimes smaller offensives to slowly gain ground and deplete the Iraqis through attrition. as southern Iraq is marshy and filled with wetlands. Iran used speedboats to cross the marshes and rivers in southern Iraq and landed troops on the opposing banks, where they would dig and set up pontoon bridges across the rivers and wetlands to allow heavy troops and supplies to cross. Iran also learned to integrate foreign guerrilla units as part of their military operations. On the northern front, Iran began working heavily with the Peshmerga. Iranian military advisors organised the Kurds into raiding parties of 12 guerrillas, which would attack Iraqi civilian and military infrastructure. The oil refineries of Kirkuk became a frequent target. They then continued the attack towards Qurna. 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, while others used their radars to guide land-based anti-ship missiles to their targets. Iran began to rely on its new Revolutionary Guard's navy, which used Boghammar speedboats fitted with rocket launchers and heavy machine guns. These speedboats would launch surprise attacks against tankers and cause substantial damage. Iran also used F-4 Phantom II fighters and helicopters to launch Maverick missiles and unguided rockets at tankers. They had been fired at about the time the plane was given a routine radio warning by Stark. The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar, and warning was given by the lookout only moments before they struck. Both missiles hit the ship, killing 37 sailors. Seawise Giant, the largest ship ever built at the time, was struck by Iraqi Exocet missiles as it was carrying Iranian crude oil out of the Persian Gulf. Attacks on cities Meanwhile, Iraq's air force also began carrying out strategic bombing raids against Iranian cities. While Iraq had launched numerous attacks with aircraft and missiles against border cities from the beginning of the war and sporadic raids on Iran's main cities, this was the first systematic strategic bombing that Iraq carried out during the war. This would become known as the war of the cities. With the help of the USSR and the west, Iraq's air force had been rebuilt and expanded. and each successful raid inflicted economic damage from regular strategic bombing. Starting in 1987, Saddam also ordered several chemical attacks on civilian targets in Iran, like in Sardasht. One limited offensive Iran launched (Dawn 7) took place in October, when they recaptured the city of Mehran. However, they managed to gain a foothold in the southern part of the island. Operation Badr The Iraqis attacked again on 28 January 1985; they were defeated, and the Iranians retaliated on 11 March with a major offensive directed against the Baghdad-Basra highway, codenamed Operation Badr. This operation was similar to Operation Kheibar, though it invoked more planning. Iran used 100,000 men, with 60,000 more in reserve. They assessed the marshy terrain, plotted points where they could land tanks, and constructed pontoon bridges across the marshes. The Basij forces were also equipped with anti-tank weapons. Until the spring of 1988, the Iranian Air Force's efficiency in air defence increased, with weapons being repaired or replaced and new tactical methods being used. For example, the Iranians would loosely integrate their SAM Sites and interceptors to create "killing fields" in which dozens of Iraqi planes were lost, which was reported in the West as the Iranian Air Force using F-14s as "mini-AWACs". The Iraqi Air Force reacted by increasing the sophistication of its equipment, incorporating modern electronic countermeasure pods, decoys such as chaff and flare, and anti-radiation missiles. in which 30,000 men from the Revolutionary Guard and Basij advanced in an offensive to capture the al-Faw peninsula in southern Iraq, the only area touching the Persian Gulf. Iraq began to try to perfect its manoeuvre tactics. The Iraqis began to prioritise the professionalisation of their military. Prior to 1986, the conscription-based Iraqi regular army and the volunteer-based Iraqi Popular Army conducted the bulk of the operations in the war, to little effect. The Republican Guard, formerly an elite praetorian guard, was expanded as a volunteer army and filled with Iraq's best generals. Loyalty to the state was no longer a primary requisite for joining. Full-scale war games against hypothetical Iranian positions were carried out in the western Iraqi desert against mock targets. They were repeated over the course of a full year until the forces involved fully memorised their attacks. Iraq built its military massively, eventually possessing the 4th largest in the world, in order to overwhelm the Iranians through sheer size. According to Iraqi General Ra'ad al-Hamdani, this was a diversionary attack. While Iranian forces crossed the border and captured the eastern section of Basra Governorate, the operation ended in a stalemate. Karbala-6 At the same time as Operation Karbala 5, Iran launched Operation Karbala-6 against the Iraqis in Qasr-e Shirin in central Iran to prevent the Iraqis from rapidly transferring units down to defend against the Karbala-5 attack. The attack was carried out by Basij infantry and the Revolutionary Guard's 31st Ashura and the Army's 77th Khorasan armoured divisions. The Basij attacked the Iraqi lines, forcing the Iraqi infantry to retreat. An Iraqi armoured counter-attack surrounded the Basij in a pincer movement. The Iranian tank divisions attacked, breaking the encirclement. The Iranian attack was stopped by mass Iraqi chemical weapons attacks. Iranian war-weariness Operation Karbala-5 was a severe blow to Iran's military and morale. The leadership acknowledged that the war was a stalemate, and began to plan accordingly. Mohsen Rezaee, head of the IRGC, announced that Iran would focus exclusively on limited attacks and infiltrations, while arming and supporting opposition groups inside of Iraq. They replenished their manpower by integrating volunteers from other Arab countries into their army. Iraq also became self-sufficient in chemical weapons and some conventional ones and received much equipment from abroad. Foreign support helped Iraq bypass its economic troubles and massive debt to continue the war and increase the size of its military. The Iranian Air Force had become very small, with a limited number of planes, although they managed to restore some damaged planes to service. The Air Force, despite its once sophisticated equipment, lacked enough equipment and personnel to sustain the war of attrition that had developed, and was unable to lead an outright onslaught against Iraq. On 8 October, the U.S. Navy destroyed four Iranian speedboats, and in response to Iranian Silkworm missile attacks on Kuwaiti oil tankers, launched Operation Nimble Archer, destroying two Iranian oil rigs in the Persian Gulf. 5,000 people were stricken. 113 died immediately, and many more died over the following decades. 1988: Final Iraqi offensives By 1988, with massive equipment imports and reduced Iranian volunteers, Iraq was ready to launch major offensives against Iran. In all, Iraq launched 520 Scuds and al-Husseins against Iran and Iran fired 177 in return. Second Battle of al-Faw On 17 April 1988, Iraq launched Operation Ramadan Mubarak, a surprise attack against the 15,000 Basij troops on the al-Faw peninsula. Iraqi losses were relatively light, especially compared to Iran's casualties. The Iranians eventually managed to halt the Iraqi drive as they pushed towards Khuzestan. The same day as Iraq's attack on al-Faw peninsula, the United States Navy launched Operation Praying Mantis in retaliation against Iran for damaging a warship with a mine. Iran lost oil platforms, destroyers, and frigates in this battle, which ended only when President Reagan decided that the Iranian navy had been damaged enough. In spite of this, the Revolutionary Guard Navy continued their speedboat attacks against oil tankers. In four days, they wiped out a Pasdaran division, seizing Mehran and building a bridgehead twelve miles into Iran. The lives of the civilian population of Iran were becoming very disrupted, with a third of the urban population evacuating major cities in fear of the seemingly imminent chemical war. Meanwhile, Iraqi conventional bombs and missiles continuously hit towns and cities, destroying vital civilian and military infrastructure, and increasing the death toll. Iran replied with missile and air attacks, but not sufficiently to deter the Iraqis. The Iranians did not publicly describe this as a retreat, instead calling it a "temporary withdrawal". were once again attacked with poison gas, resulting in even heavier civilian casualties. On 3 July 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290 people. The lack of international sympathy disturbed the Iranian leadership, and they came to the conclusion that the U.S. was on the verge of waging a full-scale war against them, and that Iraq was on the verge of unleashing its entire chemical arsenal upon their cities. soldiers killed in Operation Mersad, 1988 The last notable combat actions of the war took place on 3 August 1988, in the Persian Gulf when the Iranian navy fired on a freighter and Iraq launched chemical attacks on Iranian civilians, killing an unknown number of them and wounding 2,300. At the war's conclusion, it took several weeks for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran to evacuate Iraqi territory to honour pre-war international borders set by the 1975 Algiers Agreement. The last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003. The UN Security Council identified Iraq as the aggressor of the war in 1991. ==Aftermath==

Casualties The Iran–Iraq War was the deadliest conventional war ever fought between regular armies of developing countries. while about 400,000 had been wounded and some 70,000 taken prisoner. This includes 123,220 combatants, According to the Janbazan Affairs Organization, 398,587 Iranians sustained injuries that required prolonged medical and health care following primary treatment, including 52,195 (13%) injured due to the exposure to chemical warfare agents. From 1980 to 2012, 218,867 Iranians died due to war injuries and the mean age of combatants was 23 years old. This includes 33,430 civilians (15% of all fatalities), mostly women and children. More than 144,000 Iranian children were orphaned as a consequence of these deaths. Other estimates put Iranian casualties up to 600,000. Both Iraq and Iran manipulated loss figures to suit their purposes. At the same time, Western analysts accepted improbable estimates. By April 1988, such casualties were estimated at between 150,000 and 340,000 Iraqis dead, and 450,000 to 730,000 Iranians. Iraqi losses were also revised downwards over time. By 1990, Iran was undergoing military rearmament and reorganisation, and purchased $10 billion worth of heavy weaponry from the USSR and China, including aircraft, tanks, and missiles. Rafsanjani reversed Iran's self-imposed ban on chemical weapons, and ordered their manufacture and stockpile (Iran destroyed them in 1993 after ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention). As war with the western powers loomed, Iraq became concerned about the possibility of Iran mending its relations with the west in order to attack Iraq. Iraq had lost its support from the West, and its position in Iran was increasingly untenable. and stated that he would accept Iran's demands and withdraw Iraq's military from the disputed territories. A peace agreement was signed finalising the terms of the UN resolution, diplomatic relations were restored, and the Iraqi military withdrew. The UN peacekeepers withdrew from the border afterwards. Most of the prisoners of war were released in 1990, although some remained as late as 2003. He stated that had the UN accepted this earlier, the war would have almost certainly not lasted as long as it did. Iran, encouraged by the announcement, sought reparations from Iraq, but never received any. In 2005, the new government of Iraq apologised to Iran for starting the war. Economic situation The economic loss at the time was believed to exceed $500 billion for each country ($1.2 trillion total). In addition, economic development stalled and oil exports were disrupted. Iraq had accrued more than $130 billion of international debt, excluding interest, and was also weighed down by a slowed GDP growth. Iraq's debt to the Paris Club amounted to $21 billion, 85% of which had originated from the combined inputs of Japan, the USSR, France, Germany, the United States, Italy and the United Kingdom. The largest portion of Iraq's debt, amounting to $130 billion, was to its former Arab backers, with $67 billion loaned by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Jordan. After the war, Iraq accused Kuwait of slant drilling and stealing oil, inciting its invasion of Kuwait, which in turn worsened Iraq's financial situation: the United Nations Compensation Commission mandated Iraq to pay reparations of more than $200 billion to victims of the invasion, including Kuwait and the United States. To enforce payment, Iraq was put under a comprehensive international embargo, which further strained the Iraqi economy and pushed its external debt to private and public sectors to more than $500 billion by the end of Saddam's rule. Combined with Iraq's negative economic growth after prolonged international sanctions, this produced a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 1,000%, making Iraq the most indebted developing country in the world. The unsustainable economic situation compelled the new Iraqi government to request that a considerable portion of debt incurred during the Iran–Iraq war be written off. Science and technology The war had its impact on medical science: a surgical intervention for comatose patients with penetrating brain injuries was created by Iranian physicians treating wounded soldiers, later establishing neurosurgery guidelines to treat civilians who had suffered blunt or penetrating skull injuries. The Iran–Iraq War contributed to Iraq's defeat in the Persian Gulf War. Iraq's military was accustomed to fighting the slow moving Iranian infantry formations with artillery and static defences, while using mostly unsophisticated tanks to gun down and shell the infantry and overwhelm the smaller Iranian tank force; in addition to being dependent on weapons of mass destruction to help secure victories. Therefore, they were rapidly overwhelmed by the high-tech, quick-manoeuvring Coalition forces using modern doctrines such as AirLand Battle. ==Domestic situation==

Iraq At first, Saddam attempted to ensure that the Iraqi population suffered from the war as little as possible. There was rationing, but civilian projects begun before the war continued. At the same time, the already extensive personality cult around Saddam reached new heights while the regime tightened its control over the military. Gaining civilian support To secure the loyalty of the Shia population, Saddam allowed more Shias into the Ba'ath Party and the government, and improved Shia living standards, which had been lower than those of the Iraqi Sunnis. Saddam had the state pay for restoring Imam Ali's tomb with Italian white marble. Despite the costs of the war, the Iraqi regime made generous contributions to Shia waqf (religious endowments) as part of the price of buying Iraqi Shia support. In 1983, Saddam signed an autonomy agreement with Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), though Saddam later reneged on the agreement. By 1985, the PUK and KDP had joined forces, and Iraqi Kurdistan saw widespread guerrilla warfare for the rest of the war. However, rather than turning against the revolutionary government as experts had predicted, Iran's people (including Iranian Arabs) rallied in support of the country and put up a stiff resistance. The organisation's growth during the war is vital to understanding its role in Iranian society and how it has evolved since its initial formation in 1979. Domestically, the IRGC dealt with suppressing uprisings by Kurds, Baluchs, Turkmen, and the MEK which broke with Khomeini in June 1981. While initially dealing with internal threats to the revolution in its first few years, the IRGC focused its attention on external threats at the outbreak of the war in 1980. In January 1981, the IRGC took control of the Basij to aid in the fight against Iraqi forces. Civil unrest In June 1981, street battles broke out between the Revolutionary Guard and MEK, continuing for several days and killing hundreds on both sides. The war furthered the decline of the Iranian economy that had begun with the revolution in 1978–79. Between 1979 and 1981, foreign exchange reserves fell from $14.6 billion to $1 billion. The Iranian government-owned Etelaat newspaper wrote, "There is not a single school or town that is excluded from the happiness of 'holy defence' of the nation". ==Comparison of Iraqi and Iranian military strength==

Iran's regular Army had been purged after the 1979 Revolution, with most high-ranking officers either having fled the country or been executed. At the beginning of the war, Iraq held a clear advantage in armour, while both nations were roughly equal in terms of artillery. 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 (as Iraq was constantly expanding its military, while Iran was under arms sanctions). Estimates for 1980 and 1987 were: On average, Iraq imported about $7 billion in weapons during every year of the war, accounting for fully 12% of global arms sales in the period. The value of Iraqi arms imports increased to between $12 billion and $14 billion during 1984–1987, whereas the value of Iranian arms imports fell from $14 billion in 1985 to $5.89 billion in 1986 and an estimated $6 billion to $8 billion in 1987. Iran was constrained by the price of oil during the 1980s oil glut as foreign countries were largely unwilling to extend credit to Iran, but Iraq financed its continued massive military expansion by taking on vast quantities of debt that allowed it to win a number of victories against Iran near the end of the war but that left the country bankrupt. Despite its larger population, by 1988 Iran's ground forces numbered only 600,000 whereas the Iraqi army had grown to include 1 million soldiers. ==Foreign support to Iraq and Iran==

as the American special envoy to the Middle East meets Saddam in December 1983. During the war, Iraq was regarded by the West and the Soviet Union as a counterbalance to post-revolutionary Iran. More than 30 countries provided support to Iraq, Iran, or both; most of the aid went to Iraq. Iran had a complex clandestine procurement network to obtain munitions and critical materials. Iraq had an even larger clandestine purchasing network, involving 10–12 allied countries, to maintain ambiguity over their arms purchases and to circumvent "official restrictions". Arab mercenaries and volunteers from Egypt and Jordan formed the Yarmouk Brigade and participated in the war alongside Iraqis. Iraq in Iran The Soviet Union, France, and China together accounted for over 90% of the value of Iraq's arms imports between 1980 and 1988. The United States pursued policies in favour of Iraq by reopening diplomatic channels, lifting restrictions on the export of dual-use technology, overseeing the transfer of third-party military hardware, and providing operational intelligence on the battlefield. France, which from the 1970s had been one of Iraq's closest allies, was a major supplier of military hardware. 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. Support from Great Britain exemplified the methods by which Iraq would circumvent export controls. Iraq bought at least one British company with operations in the U.K. and the U.S., and had a complex relationship with France and the Soviet Union, its major suppliers of actual weapons. Turkey took action against the Kurds in 1986, alleging they were attacking the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which prompted a harsh diplomatic intervention by Iran, which planned a new offensive against Iraq at the time and were counting on the support of Kurdish factions. Sudan supported Iraq directly during the war, sending a contingent to fight at the frontlines. The Sudanese unit consisted to a large degree of Ugandan refugees. The United Nations Security Council initially called for a cease-fire after a week of fighting while Iraq was occupying Iranian territory, and renewed the call on later occasions. However, the UN did not come to Iran's aid to repel the Iraqi invasion, and the Iranians thus interpreted the UN as subtly biased in favour of Iraq. The Iraqgate scandal revealed that an American branch of Italy's largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) relied partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans to funnel $5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. In August 1989, when FBI agents raided the Atlanta branch of BNL, branch manager Christopher Drogoul was charged with making unauthorised, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq—some of which, according to his indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology. Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, and Matrix Churchill were among the companies shipping military technology to Iraq under the eye of the U.S. government. Iran While the United States directly fought Iran, citing freedom of navigation as a major casus belli, it also indirectly supplied some weapons to Iran as part of a complex and illegal programme that became known as the Iran–Contra affair. These secret sales were partly to help secure the release of hostages held in Lebanon, and partly to make money to help the Contras rebel group in Nicaragua. This arms-for-hostages agreement turned into a major scandal. Israel supported Iran in its war against Iraq through the supply of military equipment including spare parts for fighter jets, missile systems, ammunition and tank engines. Israel's motivations for supporting Iran stemmed from a fear of what would have become if Iraq came out victorious and as an opportunity to create business for the Israeli arms industry. North Korea was a major arms supplier to Iran, often acting as a third party in arms deals between Iran and the Communist bloc. Support included domestically manufactured arms and Eastern-Bloc weapons, for which the major powers wanted deniability. Among the other arms suppliers and supporters of Iran's Islamic Revolution, the major ones were Libya, Syria, and China. China was the largest foreign arms supplier to Iran between 1980 and 1988. Syria and Libya, breaking Arab solidarity, supported Iran with arms, rhetoric and diplomacy. However, Libya then distanced itself from Iran from 1987, criticising Tehran's attitude and restoring diplomatic relations with Iraq. Aid to both countries Besides the United States and the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia also sold weapons to both countries for the entire duration of the conflict. Likewise, Portugal helped both countries; Although neither side acquired any weapons from Turkey, both sides enjoyed Turkish civilian trade during the conflict, although the Turkish government remained neutral and refused to support the U.S.-imposed trade embargo on Iran. Turkey's export market jumped from $220 million in 1981 to $2 billion in 1985, making up 25% of Turkey's overall exports. Turkish construction projects in Iraq totalled $2.5 billion between 1974 and 1990. Trading with both countries helped Turkey to offset its ongoing economic crisis, though the benefits decreased as the war neared its end and accordingly disappeared entirely with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the resulting Iraq sanctions Turkey imposed in response. ==U.S. involvement==

American support for Ba'athist Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War, in which it fought against post-revolutionary Iran, included several billion dollars' worth of economic aid, the sale of dual-use technology, non-U.S. origin weaponry, military intelligence, and special operations training. The U.S. refused to sell arms to Iraq directly due to Iraq's ties to terrorist groups, but several sales of "dual-use" technology have been documented; notably, Iraq purchased 45 Bell helicopters for $200 million in 1985. Total sales of U.S. dual-use technology to Iraq are estimated at $500 million. U.S. embargo and Vice President George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office in 1984 A key element of U.S. political–military and energy–economic planning occurred in early 1983. The Iran–Iraq war had been going on for three years and there were significant casualties on both sides, reaching hundreds of thousands. Within the Reagan National Security Council concern was growing that the war could spread beyond the boundaries of the two belligerents. A National Security Planning Group meeting then determined that there was a high likelihood that the conflict would spread into Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, but that the U.S. had little capability to defend the region. The conclusions were threefold: firstly, oil stocks needed to be increased among members of the International Energy Agency and, if necessary, released early in the event of oil market disruption; second, the United States needed to reinforce the security of friendly Arab states in the region; and thirdly, an embargo should be placed on sales of military equipment to Iran and Iraq. The plan was approved by Reagan, and later affirmed by the other G7 countries. U.S. knowledge of Iraqi chemical weapons use According to Foreign Policy, the "Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and other intelligence. ... According to recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents and interviews with former intelligence officials like Francona, the U.S. had firm evidence of Iraqi chemical attacks beginning in 1983." Iraqi attack on U.S. warship listing following two hits by Exocet missiles|right In 1987, an Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet launched two Exocet missiles at , a Perry class frigate. The second killed 37 crewmen. Whether or not Iraqi leadership authorised the attack is still unknown. Initial claims by the Iraqi government that Stark was inside the Iran–Iraq War zone were shown to be false, and the motives and orders of the pilot remain unanswered. The attack remains the only successful anti-ship missile strike on an American warship. U.S. military actions toward Iran U.S. attention was focused on isolating Iran as well as maintaining freedom of navigation. It criticised Iran's mining of international waters, and sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 598, which passed unanimously on 20 July, under which the U.S. and Iranian forces skirmished during Operation Earnest Will. During Operation Nimble Archer in 1987, the United States attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker Sea Isle City. In 1988, U.S. Navy sailors aboard were wounded by an Iranian mine. The U.S. responded with Operation Praying Mantis, the Navy's largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Iranian ships and oil platforms were attacked. Iran Air Flight 655 In 1988, shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing all 290 passengers and crew on board. The American government claimed that Vincennes was in international waters at the time (which was later proven to be untrue), that the Airbus A300 had been mistaken for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, and that Vincennes feared that she was under attack. The Iranians maintain that Vincennes was in their own waters, and that the passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. U.S. Admiral William J. Crowe later admitted that Vincennes was in Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles. At the time of the attack, Crowe claimed that the Iranian plane did not identify itself and sent no response to warning signals he had sent. In 1996, the U.S. expressed their regret for the event. ==Iraq's use of chemical weapons==

In 1991, the CIA estimated that Iran had suffered more than 50,000 casualties from Iraq's use of several chemical weapons, though current estimates are more than 100,000 as the long-term effects continue to cause casualties. The official CIA estimate did not include the civilian population contaminated in bordering towns or the children and relatives of veterans, many of whom developed blood, lung and skin complications. 20,000 Iranian soldiers were killed on the spot by nerve gas. As of 2002, 5,000 of the 80,000 survivors continue to seek regular medical treatment, while 1,000 are hospital inpatients. According to Iraqi documents, assistance in developing chemical weapons was obtained from firms in many countries, including the United States, West Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France. A report stated that Dutch, Australian, Italian, French and both West and East German companies were involved in the export of raw materials to Iraqi chemical weapons factories. Declassified CIA documents show that the U.S. was providing reconnaissance intelligence to Iraq around 1987–88 which was then used to launch chemical weapon attacks on Iranian troops, and that the CIA fully knew that chemical weapons would be deployed and sarin and cyclosarin attacks followed. In 1986, the UN Security Council made a declaration stating that "members are profoundly concerned by the unanimous conclusion of the specialists that chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian troops, and the members of the Council strongly condemn this continued use of chemical weapons in clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which prohibits the use in war of chemical weapons." The United States was the only member who voted against the issuance of this statement. A mission to the region in 1988 found evidence of the use of chemical weapons, and was condemned in Security Council Resolution 612. , Iran Former U.S. official W. Patrick Lang stated that "the use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern" to the Reagan administration, because they "were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose". He claimed that the Defense Intelligence Agency "would have never accepted the use of chemical weapons against civilians, but the use against military objectives was seen as inevitable in the Iraqi struggle for survival". The U.S. accused Iran of using chemical weapons as well, Analysts Gary Sick and Lawrence Potter have called the allegations against Iran "mere assertions" and stated, "No persuasive evidence of the claim that Iran was the primary culprit [of using chemical weapons] was ever presented." Documents uncovered after the 2003 invasion of Iraq show that Iraqi military intelligence was not aware of any large-scale chemical attacks by Iranian forces, although a March 1987 document describes five small-scale chemical attacks perpetrated by the Iranians (four involving mustard gas and one involving phosgene, with the likely source being captured Iraqi munitions), and there are also reports of Iranian use of tear gas and white phosphorus. In 2006, Saddam said he would take responsibility "with honour" for any attacks on Iran using conventional or chemical weapons during the war, but that he took issue with the charges that he ordered attacks on Iraqis. During the war, the United Nations Security Council issued statements that "chemical weapons had been used in the war". UN statements never clarified that only Iraq was using chemical weapons, and according to retrospective authors "the international community remained silent as Iraq used weapons of mass destruction against Iranian[s] as well as Iraqi Kurds." A 1987 UN report conducted at the behest of both belligerents discovered weapon fragments that established Iraqi responsibility for chemical attacks on Iranian soldiers and civilians, but could not substantiate Iraq's allegations of Iranian chemical weapons use: "Iraqi forces have been affected by mustard gas and a pulmonary element, possibly phosgene. In the absence of conclusive evidence of the weapons used, it could not be determined how the injuries were caused." Evidence suggests that these Iraqi chemical casualties were likely the result of "blowback", whereas the evidence that Iraq submitted to the UN did not withstand scrutiny; UN official Iqbal Riza later acknowledged that Iraq's evidence was "clearly fabricated". However, the report's phrasing—"chemical weapons were again used against Iranian forces by Iraqi forces ... now also Iraqi forces have sustained injuries from chemical warfare"—contributed to an erroneous perception that Iran and Iraq were equally at fault. ==Legacy and memory==

, 2011. Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel describes the Iran–Iraq War as "one of the largest and longest conventional interstate wars" of the twentieth century and "the only war in modern times in which chemical weapons were used on a massive scale". The war was the first conflict in the history of warfare in which both forces used ballistic missiles against each other. This war also saw the only confirmed air-to-air helicopter battles in history, with Iraqi Mi-25s fighting Iranian AH-1J SeaCobras on several occasions. The war is regarded as being a major trigger for rising sectarianism in the region, as it was viewed by many as a clash between Sunni Muslims (Ba'athist Iraq and other Arab states) and the Shia revolutionaries that had recently taken power in Iran. There remains lingering animosity however despite the pragmatic alliance that has been formed as multiple government declarations from Iran have stated that the war will "affect every issue of internal and foreign policy" for decades to come. The sustained importance of this conflict is attributed mostly to its massive human and economic cost, along with its ties to the Iranian Revolution. ==See also==