Iran-Iraq War

The Iran-Iraq War (or First Persian Gulf War) was a war between Iran and Iraq, lasting from September 22, 1980 until August 20, 1988. The war was started by Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, who wanted control Iran's Shatt al-Arab. It was commonly refered to as the Persian Gulf War until the Iraq-Kuwait Conflict (1990-91), which became known as the Second Gulf War and later simply the Gulf War.

It seems that the conflict was caused by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's desire for full control of the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Persian Gulf, an important channel for the oil exports of both countries. In 1975, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had sanctioned the Shah of Iran to attack Iraq over the waterway, which was then under Iraqi control. Following the western propaganda after the February 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the Shah, Iraq and some other Arab countries also feared the possible spread of the Islamic Revolution to their countries, that would put an end to their regimes. Iraq also had designs on the Iranian province of Khuzestan, which is the main oil area in Iran.

Saddam had recently come to power and was interested in elevating Iraq to a regional superpower. A successful invasion of western Iran would make Iraq the sole dominating force in the Gulf region and its lucrative oil trade. Such lofty ambitions were not that farfetched. Severe officer purges and spare part shortages for Iran's American-made equipment had crippled Iran's once mighty military. To top it off, Iran had minimal defenses in the Arvand river (Shatt al-Arab) area. On September 22, 1980, Iraq seized the opportunity and invaded, using the so called Iran-backed assassination attempt aimed at then-Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz as a pretext for the attack.

Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khomeini

Early on Iraq had great successes, advancing on a wide front into Iranian territory. However, the Iraqis soon found that the Iranian military was not nearly as depleted as they thought. The Iranian people rallied behind their new government to fight off the Iraqi invaders. In June, 1982, a successful Iranian counter-offensive recovered the areas previously lost to Iraq. Most of the fighting for the rest of the war occurred on Iraqi territory.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

Iraq's army was primarily armed with weaponry it had purchased from the Soviet Union and her satellites. During the war, it purchased more equipment from the Soviets and their allies, as well as from China, France, Egypt, maybe Germany, and other sources (including European facilities for making and/or enhancing Chemical Weapons). Much of Iraq's financial backing came from other Arab states, notably oil-rich Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Starting in 1982 with Iranian success on the battle field, the United States changed its less announced policy of backing Iraq to a clear direct support, supplying it with weapons and economic aid, and normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War). The United States engaged in a series of naval battles with Iranian forces in 1987 and 1988 and even the U.S. cruiser USS Vincennes (July 3, 1988) attacked an Iranian airliner with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew, including women and kids, that was interpreted as a very severe warning by some of the analysts, to end the war which was said to be not anymore to the benefit of the U.S. government.

Iraq offered a cessation of hostilities as outright Iranian victory appeared possible, but Iran's insistence from July 1982 onward to destroy the Iraqi regime prolonged the conflict for another six years. It was not until Iraq's widespread use of chemical weapons (backed by attacks of Americans and propaganda of the western media), made the Iranians fear for the safety of their cities and they agreed to a truce.

The war was characterized by extreme brutality, including the use of chemical weapons, especially tabun, by Iraq. Very little pressure was brought upon Iraq by the world community to curb such attacks or to condemn its earlier initiation of hostilities. The tactics used in the war resembled those of World War I with costly human wave attacks commonly used by both sides.

Aftermath

The war was disastrous for both countries, stalling economic development and disrupting oil exports, and costing an estimated million lives. Iraq was left with serious debts to its former Arab backers, including $14 billion loaned by Kuwait (1), a debt which contributed to Saddam's 1990 decision to invade Kuwait.

Much of both sides oil industry was damaged. Air raids had been launched by both nations against the oil infrastructure.

The end of the war left the borders unchanged. Two years later, as war with the western powers loomed, Saddam recognised Iranian rights over the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab, a reversion to the status quo which he had repudiated a decade earlier.

The war would be extremely costly, one of the deadliest wars since the Second World War in terms of casualties. It is surpassed only by conflicts such as the Vietnam War, Korean War and the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Referenced By