Iran-Iraq War

I

Introduction

Iran-Iraq War, armed conflict that began when Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980 and ended in August 1988 after both sides accepted a ceasefire sponsored by the United Nations. The war was one of the longest and most destructive of the 20th century, with probably more than one million casualties. Despite the conflict's length and cost, neither Iran nor Iraq made significant territorial or political gains, and the fundamental issues dividing the countries remained unresolved at the end of the war.

II

Background

The border between Iraq and Iran has been contested diplomatically and sometimes militarily for several centuries. After the Ottoman Empire conquered present-day Iraq in 1534, making it the easternmost part of its empire, Iran, its eastern neighbour, became a frequent rival. More recently, when Iraq was made a separate state in the aftermath of World War I, Iraq and Iran disagreed sharply over the precise border between them, especially in the area of the Shatt al Arab, a river channel providing Iraq's only outlet to the sea, via the Persian Gulf. In 1937 the two sides came to an agreement establishing a boundary that gave Iraq control of the Shatt al Arab.

Despite the border agreement, relations between Iran and Iraq continued to suffer periodic crises for two reasons. First, although Iraq is predominantly Arab and Iran is predominantly Persian, the border still cut across some political loyalties. In the north, a large population of Kurds (who are neither Arab nor Persian) straddled both sides of the border. Along the southern part of the border, an Arab minority inhabited the Iranian province of Khuzestan among a Persian majority. Furthermore, the largest portion of the Iraqi population is Shia Muslim (see Shiism), as is the majority of the Iranian population. Shia religious leaders at odds with the secular government of their own country sometimes sought refuge in the other, straining Iranian-Iraqi relations. The most prominent refugee was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leading Shia religious scholar who settled in Iraq after being exiled from Iran in 1964.

The second reason why Iran and Iraq continued to suffer crises was that both countries were politically unstable. When either Iran or Iraq experienced a revolution or coup, the other country would exploit the troubled country’s political weakness to gain a diplomatic advantage. As Western countries, especially Britain, gradually lost influence in the area in the mid-20th century, both Iran and Iraq felt freer to pursue more ambitious foreign policies, unhindered (and at times even supported) by external powers. By the beginning of the 1970s both Iran and Iraq sought broader influence in the region. Under Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran felt it could assert its authority in the area, partly with the backing of the United States. Iraq, governed by the Arab nationalist regime of Major General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, sought to unite and strengthen the Arab world and reject Western influence. These opposing views created a bitter rivalry between the neighbouring countries.

III

Prelude to War

In the early 1970s Iraq's Kurdish population rebelled against the country's government, and Iran joined several other countries in supporting the insurgency. At peace talks in Algiers, Algeria, in 1975, Iran agreed to abandon its support for the Kurdish rebellion in return for an agreement by Iraq to share the Shatt al Arab waterway with Iran. Thereafter, the border between Iran and Iraq was drawn down the middle of the Shatt al Arab rather than along its eastern (Iranian) bank as agreed in 1937.

In January 1979 followers of Ayatollah Khomeini led a revolution that toppled the shah. The following month, Khomeini returned to Iran and began to take control of the new government. In April, after a popular referendum, Khomeini declared the establishment of an Islamic republic. The Islamic Revolution in Iran posed what seemed to be both an enormous opportunity and a dire threat to the Iraqi government, now under the control of Saddam Hussein. On the one hand, Iran was in disarray. The various elements in the coalition that overthrew the shah were badly divided and the army was being purged. Further, the taking of American hostages in November 1979, combined with the desire of the new government to free the country from all foreign influence, left Iran internationally isolated. Never had Iraq’s rival been so vulnerable.

On the other hand, Iranian Shia Muslims had carried out the successful revolution against the shah’s secular government. Their success excited many Iraqi Shiites with the possibility of similar gains in their country. Although Shiites also constitute the majority of Muslims in Iraq, the Sunnis (see Sunni) had long held political power in Iraq’s secular government. Cautiously, the domestic opposition to Hussein’s strong-handed government became emboldened. One Iraqi religious leader in particular, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, emerged with ideas very similar to Khomeini’s. Al-Sadr was soon arrested and executed, bringing protests from some Iraqi Shiites as well as a crisis in Iranian-Iraqi relations.

While these events were unfolding, some Iranian officials made no secret of their desire to have other Muslim countries follow their path of Islamic revolution. A crisis between Iran and Iraq escalated during 1980 as the two countries accused each other of border violations and interfering in each other’s internal affairs. Iraq responded to the escalation by repudiating the 1975 agreement giving Iran access to the Shatt al Arab. On September 22, Iraq further escalated the conflict, launching the full-scale invasion of Iran that initiated eight years of warfare.

IV

Invasion and Counterattack

Iraqi troops invaded Iran along a front some 500 km (300 mi) long. Numerous and well-equipped Iraqi forces overwhelmed the small Iranian border units and advanced into south-west Iran. With the far side of the Shatt al Arab thus secured, Iraq captured the southern border city of Khorramshahr in the oil-rich Khuzestan province and began besieging other towns along the frontier. However, the Iranian resistance was stiffer than Iraq expected. Using its superior naval power, Iran quickly mounted an effective sea blockade. Standing up to Iraq’s larger air force, the Iranian air force issued retaliatory raids that checked Iraq’s advance on the ground. In January 1981 Iran launched its first counteroffensive, but Iraq repelled the assault. The war entered a protracted stalemate.

The stalemate did little to encourage either country to engage in diplomatic dialogue. The Iraqi government accused Iran of being bent on regional domination, while the Iranian government called for revolution in Iraq. Briefly, in 1981, Iraq stopped fighting and expressed some willingness to consider a ceasefire, but Iran rejected any attempt to stop the war while Iraq occupied Iranian territory. Thereafter, the Iranian leadership staked out a very firm diplomatic position, claiming that it would never accept negotiations with the Iraqi government.

As the stalemate continued, Iran was able to mobilize irregular forces (groups not normally part of the army but drafted and armed in response to a crisis), including the Revolutionary Guard, an ill-trained but dedicated core of fighters. By early 1982 the struggle for political power in post-revolutionary Iran was resolved, allowing the government to pursue a more coherent war policy. Iran seized the initiative with several offensives that pushed Iraq out of much of Iran and brought the fighting into Iraqi territory. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1982, Iranian attacks along the border focused on splitting the south of Iraq, where the majority of the Shiites lived, from the north and capturing the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

The Iranian offensives of 1982 set a pattern that continued for the rest of the war. Exploiting their superiority in numbers, Iran sent its Revolutionary Guard on the attack, supported by regular military forces. Outnumbered Iraqi forces inflicted heavy losses on the Iranians but ultimately fell back. As soon as the initial Iranian thrust had exhausted itself, however, the Iraqi army exploited Iranian disorganization and lack of equipment to retake much of the lost territory.

As the war continued, Iraq’s defence grew increasingly desperate. Probably as early as 1983 the armed forces used poison gas against Iranian troops. Iraq also widened the war to civilian targets, launching missiles against Iranian cities, bombing Iranian oil installations, and attacking Iranian shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iran responded with attacks against civilian and economic targets in Iraq.