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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) |
| Iran-Iraq War | |||||||||
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 Iranian soldier with gas mask in the battlefield | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Iran
| .svg/58px-Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg) Iraq
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| Commanders | |||||||||
| Ruhollah Khomeini Banisadr Ali Shamkhani Mostafa Chamran †
| Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 305,000 soldiers unknown number of (approximately 400,000 to 700,000) Pasdaran and Basij militia 900 tanks | 190,000 soldiers plus unknown number of volunteers from other Arab countries. 5,000 tanks 4,000 armored vehicles 7,330 artillery pieces 500+ aircraft, 100+ helicopters | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Est. 750,000-1,000,000 soldiers/militia/civilians killed or wounded | Est. 375,000-400,000 soldiers/militia/civilians killed or wounded | ||||||||
| Iran-Iraq War |
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| Dezful -Abadan - Undeniable Victory - Khorramshahr - Samen-ol-A\'emeh - Jerusalem Way - Jerusalem - Ramadan - Before the Dawn - Dawn 1 - Dawn 2 - Dawn 3 - Dawn 4 - Dawn V - Dawn 6 - Marshes - Kheibar - Badr - Cities - 1st Al Faw - Dawn 8 - Karbala 4 - Karbala-5 - Karbala-6 - Karbala Ten - Nasr 4 - Halabja - Zafar 7 - 2nd Al Faw - Mersad Related U.S. operations |
| Recent wars in the |
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| Iran-Iraq War – Gulf War – Iraq War |
The Iran-Iraq War, also known as the Imposed War by Iraq (جنگ تحمیلی, Jang-e-tahmīlī), Iranian Holy Defense (دفاع مقدس, Defa-e-moghaddas) and Iranian Revolutionary War in Iran, and Saddām\'s Qādisiyyah (قادسيّة صدّام, Qādisiyyat Saddām) in Iraq, was a war between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran lasting from September 1980 to August 1988. It was commonly referred to as the Persian Gulf War until the Iraq-Kuwait conflict of (1990–91), 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 Persian Gulf War.
The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on 22 September 1980 following a long history of border disputes and fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq\'s long suppressed Shia majority influenced by Iran\'s Islamic revolution. Although Saddam\'s Iraq hoped to take advantage of revolutionary chaos in Iran and attacked without formal warning, they made only limited progress into Iran and within several months were repelled by the Iranians who regained virtually all lost territory by June 1982. For the next six years Iran was on the offensiveMolavi, Afshin, The Soul of Iran Norton, (2005), p.152 Despite several calls for a ceasefire by the United Nations Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988. The last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003.Molavi, Afsin (2005). The Soul of Iran. Norton, 152. "THREATS AND RESPONSES: BRIEFLY NOTED; IRAN-IRAQ PRISONER DEAL", by Nazila Fathi, New York Times, March 14, 2003
The war is noted for being very similar to World War I. Tactics used included trench warfare, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, use of barbed wire, human wave attacks and Iraq\'s extensive use of chemical weapons (such as mustard gas) against Iranian troops and civilians as well as Iraqi Kurds.
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Although the Iran-Iraq war from 1980–1988 was a war for dominance of the Persian Gulf region, the roots of the war go back many centuries. There has been rivalry between kingdoms of Mesopotamia (the Tigris-Euphrates valley, modern Iraq) and the rugged highlands to the East (Persia or modern Iran) since the beginning of recorded history in Sumer.
Of strategic importance was the question of sovereignty over the resource-rich province of Khuzestan. Before the Ottoman empire 1299-1922, Iraq was part of Persia. The rising power of the Ottomans put an end to this when Suleyman I annexed Arabian Iraq. The Turkish Sultan and general, Murad IV recaptured Baghdad from the Safavids of Persia in 1638 via the Treaty of Zuhab (Peace of Qasr-e-Shirin). The border disputes between Persia and the Ottomans never ended. Between 1555 and 1918, Persia and the Ottoman empire signed no fewer than 18 treaties delineating their disputed borders. Today\'s border comes from the Treaty of Zuhab. Modern Iraq was created from the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, formed after the final collapse of the Ottoman empire following the First World War, thereby inheriting all the disputes with Persia.
Saddam Hussein biographers have described Saddam\'s anti-Iranianism, developed in his formative years living with his virulently anti-Iranian uncle Khairallah Talfah as a factor in his later foreign policy, including the Iran-Iraq War. Blair, David (March 18, 2003), "He dreamed of glory but dealt out only despair", The Daily Telegraph, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/18/wisad18.xml>Coughlin, Con (2005). Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial, 19. Talfah was the author of Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies, a pamphlet Saddam\'s government was later to republish.Kengor, Paul (January 7, 2007), "The rise and fall of a dictator", The Washington Times, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5244/is_200701/ai_n20941022>
On 18 December 1959, the new leader of Iraq 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." The Iraqi regime\'s dissatisfaction with Iran\'s possession of the oil-rich Khuzestan province was not limited to rhetorical statements; Iraq began supporting secessionist movements in Khuzestan, and even raised the issue of its territorial claims at the next meeting of the Arab League, without success. Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran—especially after the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the rise of the Ba\'ath Party, when Iraq decided to take on the role of "leader of the Arab world".
In 1969, the deputy prime minister of Iraq stated: "Iraq\'s dispute with Iran is in connection with Arabistan (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", encouraging Arabs living in Iran and even Balūchīs 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 called Nasiriyyah, renaming all Iranian cities with Arabic names.
In 1971, Iraq broke diplomatic relations with Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf, following the withdrawal of the British. Iraq then expropriated the properties of 70,000 Iranians and expelled them from its territory, after complaining to the Arab League and the UN without success.
One of the factors contributing to hostility between the two powers was a dispute over 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 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.
In 1974 Iraq attacked Iranian forces, with heavy casualties on both sides.[citation needed] In 1975, United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had sanctioned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to attack Iraq over the waterway, then under Iraqi control;[citation needed] soon afterward, both nations signed the Algiers Accord, where Iraq made territorial concessions — including the waterway — in exchange for normalized relations.
The relationship between Iranian and Iraqi governments briefly improved in 1978, when Iranian agents in Iraq discovered a pro-Soviet coup d\'etat 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.
The Pan-Islamism and revolutionary Shia Islamism of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran; and the Arab nationalism of Saddam Hussein\'s Iraqi regime were central to the conflict.
Saddam Hussein was keenly interested in elevating Iraq to a strong regional power. A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq\'s oil reserves and make Iraq the dominant power in the Persian Gulf region.
On several occasions Saddam alluded 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 Saddam to al-Mustansiriyyah University in Baghdad, drawing parallels with the 7th century defeat of Persia in the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah, he announced:
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."Speech made by Saddam Hussein. Baghdad, Voice of the Masses in Arabic, 1200 GMT 02 April 1980. FBIS-MEA-80-066. 03 April 1980, E2-3. E3
In turn the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini believed Muslims, particularly the Shias in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, who he saw as oppressed, could and should follow the Iranian example, rise up against their governments to join a united Islamic republic.Khomeini,Ruhollah and Algar, Hamid ( translator) (1981). Islam and Revolution : Writing and Declarations of Imam Khomeini. Mizan Press, 122. Khomeini and Iran\'s Islamic revolutionaries despised Saddam\'s secularist, Arab nationalist Ba\'athist regime in particular as un-Islamic and "a puppet of Satan,"Mackey, Sandra (1996). The Iranians : Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation. Dutton, 317. and called on Iraqis to overthrow Saddam and his regime. At the same time severe officer purges (including several executions ordered by Sadegh Khalkhali, the post-revolution sharia ruler), and spare parts shortages for Iran\'s American-made equipment, had crippled Iran\'s once mighty military. The bulk of the Iranian military was made up of poorly armed, though committed, militias. Iran had minimal defenses in the Shatt al-Arab river.
Iraq started the war believing that Sunnis of Iran would join the opposing forces, failing to fully appreciate the power of Iranian nationalism over historically clan-centered differences, and the power of Iranian government control of the press. Few of the ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan or Sunnis of Iran collaborated with Iraqis.[citation needed]
Iran\'s embassy in London was attacked by Iraqi-sponsored terrorist forces a few months prior to the war in 1980, in what came to be known as the Iranian Embassy Siege.http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2000/iranian_embassy_siege/intro.stm
The UN Secretary General report dated 9 December 1991 (S/23273)[clarify] explicitly cites "Iraq\'s aggression against Iran" in starting the war and breaching International security and peace."Who started the Iran-Iraq war?", Virginia Journal of International Law 33: pp. 69–89, Fall 1992, <http://www.student.virginia.edu/~vjil>
An armed Iranian woman in front of a mosque during Iraqi invasion to Khorramshahr in September-October 1981.
The Shatt al-Arab waterway on the Iran-Iraq border.
The two nations severed diplomatic relations in June 1980, and sporadic border clashes increased. On September 17, in a statement addressed to the Iraqi parliament, Saddam Hussein stated that "The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty...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."Karsh, Efraim (2002). The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. Osprey Publishing, 22. Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on September 22 1980. Iraq\'s justification was an Iranian assassination attempt on Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.
"Relations deteriorated rapidly until in March 1980, Iran unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic ties to the charged\'affaires level, withdrew its ambassador, and demanded that Iraq do the same. The tension increased in April following the attempted assassination of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and, 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 September 22, 1980, Iraq announced that her planes had hit ten Iranian airfields and that her troops had penetrated into Iranian territory on three major fronts. A full scale war had been launched. Its purpose, according to Saddam Hussein, was to blunt the edge of Khomeini\'s ... movement and to thwart his attempt to export his Islamic revolution to Iraq and the Arab Gulf states."Cruze, Gregory S. (Spring 1988), Iran and Iraq: Perspectives in Conflict, vol. research report, U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/CGS.htm> Abrogating the Algiers Agreement, the main Iraqi thrust was in the Khuzistan province.
The initial aim of Iraq was to capture the Shatt al-Arab waterway. To this end, Saddam told his generals to capture the Iranian province of Khuzestan, and prepare significant defenses along the front-line. Saddam was hoping to show the world the limited nature of his invasion by demonstrating that he was only interested in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.[citation needed]
As part of this plan, Saddam planned to launch a number of offensives across the length and breadth of the Iran-Iraqi border. Iraq had mobilized 10 divisions for the invasion,while Iran countered with only 8 regular army divisions and one brigade. Of these divisions, only four of those were deployed to the border.[citation needed] Iran\'s newly instated Islamic regime had little trust in the regular army, believing that they were a threat to the revolutionary regime. Consequently, the Iranian government attempted to boost the capabilities of militia groups, chiefly the Pasdaran and the Basij.
The objectives of Iraq\'s invasion of Iran were:
The surprise offensive advanced quickly against the still disorganized Iranian forces, advancing on a wide front into Iranian territory along the Mehran-Khorramabad axis in central Iran and towards Ahvaz in the oil-rich southern province of Khuzestan.
The Iraqi invasion soon encountered unexpected resistance, however. A preemptive strike executed by the Iraqi Air Force on the first day of the war successfully destroyed parts of Iran\'s airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft. The IRaF was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN, Tu-22 and Su-20 aircraft, ineffective in a country as large as Iran. When three MiG-23BN\'s flew over Tehran, attacked its airport, damaging only a few aircraft.Cordesman, Anthony and Wagner,Abraham R. (1990). The Lessons of Modern War: Volume Two - The Iran-Iraq Conflict. Westview, 102. Over the next day dozens of Iranian F-4s attacked Iraqi targets, and in a few days the IRIAF gained air superiority over IRaF, allowing them to conduct ground attack missions with fighter-bombers and helicopters.
Also, rather than turning against the Ayatollah\'s government as exiles had promised, the people of Iran rallied around their country and mounted a stiff resistance. An estimated 200,000 additional troops arrived at the front by November, many of them "ideologically committed" volunteers. The Iraqis soon found the Iranian military was not nearly as depleted as they had thought.
By June 1982, an Iranian counter-offensive had recovered the areas lost to Iraq earlier in the war. An especially significant battle of this counter-offensive in the Khuzestan province was the liberation of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on May 24 1982.
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The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (February 2008) |
Demoralized Iraqi soldiers taken PoW at Khorramshahr.
Saddam Hussein, realising that he had no realistic hope of remaining in Iran[citation needed], ordered his troops to withdraw to the international border between Iran and Iraq.[citation needed] He believed that his battered army would only be able to fight knowing that it was fighting for the homeland, and that they could rely upon the static defenses which had been built.
He announced that, for humanitarian reasons, he was withdrawing his army from Iran in order to help Lebanon, which had been invaded by Israel on 6 June 1982.[citation needed] He asked the Iranians to consider the plight of the Lebanese, although Saddam would obviously have been more concerned about avoiding an Iranian attack than the threat faced by Lebanon, and to make peace.[citation needed]
A Saudi Arabia-backed plan to end the the war agreed to by Iraq included $70 billion in war reparations to be paid by Arabian states of the Persian Gulf on behalf of Iraq, and complete the Iraqi evacuation from Iranian territory - an offer called by some critics of Iranian government as "extraordinarily favorable to Iran."Molavi, Afsin (2005). The Soul of Iran. Norton, 270. Iran rejected Iraq\'s offer, demanding the removal of the Saddam Hussein regime, the repatriation of 100,000 Shi\'ites expelled from Iraq before the war, and $150 billion in war reparations.[citation needed]
It is unlikely that anyone in Iran seriously expected that Iraq would accept these terms[citation needed]; and only offered them as a way of getting Saddam to refuse peace, thus making him continue to look like the aggressor. In fact, many within the Iranian government were demanding that the war be expanded into Iraq. On 21 June, Khomeini hinted that the expulsion of Iraqi troops would not be followed by a cessation of Iranian attacks, but by an invasion of Iraq.[citation needed] The following day, the Iranian Chief-of-Staff Shirazi said that the war would continue "until Saddam Hussein is overthrown so that we can pray at the Shi\'ite holy city of Karbala and Najaf."[citation needed] This matched a comment made by Khomeini on the issue of a truce with Iraq: "There are no conditions. The only condition is that the regime in Baghdad must fall and must be replaced by an Islamic Republic."Wright, Robin (1989). In the Name of God : The Khomeini Decade. Simon and Schuster, 126.
This statement was not long in being fulfilled. On 13 July, the Iranians crossed the border, in force, aiming towards the city of Basra, the second most important city in Iraq.
However, in this offensive, the Iranians encountered an Iraqi enemy which had entrenched itself in formidable defences. 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, by necessity, well developed even before the war; and the Iraqis were able to utilise a highly-developed network of bunkers and artillery fire-bases. Saddam had also doubled the size of the Iraqi army from 1981, 200,000 soldiers (12 divisions and 3 independent brigades), to 500,000 in 1985 (23 divisions and nine brigades).[citation needed]
The efforts of Saddam bore fruit. Iran had been using combined-arms operations to great effect when it was attacking the Iraqi troops in its country, and had launched the iconic human-wave attacks with great support from artillery, aircraft, and tanks. However, the increasingly strained army-Pasdaran relations meant that the Iranians were now launching human-wave assaults, with no support from other branches of the military. The superior defences of the Iraqis meant that tens of thousands of Iranian soldiers were lost in most operations after 1982, and the Iraqi defences would continue to hold in most sectors.
In the Basra offensive, or Operation Ramadan five human-wave attacks were met with withering fire from the Iraqis. The boy-soldiers of the Basij were particularly hard-hit, especially since they were ordered to run into minefields, in order to clear the way for the Pasdaran brigades behind them. The Iranians were also hard-hit by the employment of gas by the Iraqis.
The red line shows the Iraqi\'s furthest ground gains. The yellow the Iranian\'s ones.
Ali Khamenei current Supreme Leader of Iran in battlefield during the Iran-Iraq war.
After the failure of their 1982 summer offensives, Iran believed that a major effort along the entire breadth of the front would yield the victory that they desired. 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 that type of assault. Although some degree of co-operation between the Pasdaran and the regular army had been achieved - meaning the Iranian militias could now rely upon some support - it was not enough.
During the course of 1983, the Iranians launched five major assaults along the front. None meet with substantial success. Khomeini\'s position on a truce remained unchanged.
Saddam had hoped that mounting casualties and the lack of progress would force the Iranians to accept peace, but the Khomeini government again re-iterated their demands for the overthrow of the Ba\'ath regime in early 1984.[citation needed] Saddam realized that he would need to adopt a more aggressive posture to bring the Iranians to the bargaining table.[citation needed] He declared that eleven Iranian cities would come under attack unless Iran halted their acts of aggression by 7 February 1984.
As an answer to this ultimatum, the Iranians launched an attack against Iraqi forces along the northern sector of the front line. Although a minor attack, Saddam stuck to his pledge and ordered aerial and missile attacks against the eleven cities that he had designated. The bombardment ceased on 22 February. Iran soon retaliated against urban centres, and these exchanges become known as the first "war of the cities". There would be five throughout the course of the war.
The attacks on the Iranian cities did not destroy the Iranian government\'s resolve to fight. On 15 February, the Iranians launched a major attack against the central section of the front where the Second Iraqi Army Corps was deployed. 250,000 Iranians faced 250,000 Iraqis. Of the 250,000 Iranians committed, 190,000 of those were Pasdaran and Basij soldiers, with only 60,000 regular troops engaged in the operation. The offensive did fall under army control, however, and the regular army did plan it.
From 15 to 22 February, in Operation Dawn 5, and 22 to 24 February, in Operation Dawn 6, the Iranians attempted to capture the vital town of Kut al-Amara and to cut the key highway linking Baghdad and Basra. Capture of this road would have made it extremely difficult for the Iraqis to supply and co-ordinate the defenses, but the Iranian forces only came within 15 miles (24 km) of the highway.
However, Operation Khaibar met with much greater success. Involving a number of thrusts towards the key Iraqi city of Basra, the operation started on the 24 February and lasted until 19 March. The Iraqi defenses, under continuous strain since 15 February, seemed close to breaking conclusively. The Iraqis successfully stabilized the front but not before the Iranians captured part of the Majnun Islands. Despite a heavy Iraqi counterattack coupled with the use of mustard gas and sarin nerve gas, the Iranians held their gains and would continue to hold them almost until the end of the war.Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Globalsecurity.org (John Pike), <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm>
With his armed forces now benefiting from the influx of material and financial support from Western powers such as the United States of America and France, Saddam went on the offensive on 28 January, 1985, for the first time since late 1980. This offensive, however, did not produce any significant gains, and the Iranians responded in kind with their own offensive directed against Basra, codenamed Operation Badr, on 11 March 1985. By this time, the failure of the unsupported human wave attacks during 1984 meant that Iran was trying to develop a better working relationship between the army and the Pasdaran. The Iranian government also worked on molding the Pasdaran 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. 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 towns, including Tehran.
Donald Rumsfeld meets Saddam Hussein on 19 December - 20 December 1983. Rumsfeld visited again on 24 March 1984, the day the UN reported that Iraq had used mustard gas and tabun nerve agent against Iranian troops.
During the 1980s, the United States maintained cordial relations with Saddam as a bulwark against Iran. The NY Times reported from Baghdad on 29 March 1984, that "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with Iraq and the U.S., and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been established in all but name."Battle (editor), Joyce (February 25, 2003), Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984, vol. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, George Washington University National Security Archive, <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82>In 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the U.S. made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, supplying it with intelligence, economic aid, normalizing relations with the government (broken during the 1967 Six-Day War), and also supplying weapons.King, John (March 2003), Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement, Iran Chamber Society, <http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php> 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."See statement by former NSC official Howard Teicher, dated 1/31/95, U.S. vs. Highsmith, Carlos Cardoen, Frnco Safta, Jorge Burr, Industrias Cadoen Limitada, .
The Tanker War started when Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the oil terminal at Kharg island in 1984. Iran struck back by attacking tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Gulf states supporting Iraq. The air and small boat attacks did very little damage to Gulf state economies and Iran just moved its shipping port to Larak Island in the strait of Hormuz.TDP, Dugdale-Pointon (27 October 2002), Tanker War 1984-1988,, <http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_tanker.html>
Lloyd\'s of London, a British insurance market, estimated that the Tanker War damaged 546 commercial vessels and killed about 430 civilian mariners. The largest portion of the attacks were directed by Iran against Kuwaiti vessels, and on November 1 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 March 7 1987 (Operation Earnest Will and Operation Prime Chance). Under international law, an attack on such ships would be treated as an attack on the United States, allowing the U.S. Navy to retaliate. This support would protect neutral ships headed to Iraqi ports, effectively guaranteeing Iraq\'s revenue stream for the duration of the war.
On May 17, an Iraqi plane attacked, the USS Stark (FFG 31), a Perry class frigate, killing 37 and injuring 21.Martins, Mark S. (Winter 1994), "Rules of Engagement for Land Forces: A Matter of Training, Not Lawyering", Military Law Review: 43-46, <http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Military_Law_Review/pdf-files/27687D~1.pdf>Peniston, Bradley, No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf, Naval Institute Press, pp. pp. 61-63, ISBN 1591146615., <http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-stark.shtml>
However, U.S. attention was focused on isolating Iran as well as freedom of navigation, criticizing Iran\'s mining of international waters, and sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 598, which passed unanimously on July 20, under which it skirmished with Iranian forces. During the Operation Nimble Archer in October 1987, the U.S. attacked Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for an Iranian attack on the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker Sea Isle City.Kelley, Stephen Andrew (June 2007), Better Lucky than Good: Operation Earnest Will as Gunboat Diplomacy, vol. Master\'s Thesis, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School
On April 14 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by an Iranian mine, without suffering any casualties. U.S. forces responded with Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, the United States Navy\'s largest engagement of surface warships since World War II. Two Iranian oil platforms, two Iranian ships and six Iranian gunboats were destroyed. An American helicopter also crashed.
In the course of these escorts by the U.S. Navy, the cruiser USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 with the loss of all 290 passengers and crew on July 3 1988. The American government claimed that the airliner had been mistaken for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, and that the Vincennes was operating in international waters at the time and feared that it was under attack, which later appeared to be untrue. Fisk, Robert (2007). The Great War for Civilisation - The Conquest of the Middle East. Vintage. The Iranians, however, maintain that the Vincennes was in fact in Iranian territorial waters, and that the Iranian passenger jet was turning away and increasing altitude after take-off. U.S. Admiral William J. Crowe also admitted on Nightline that the Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles.
George H.W. Bush (U.S. Vice President) [July 14, 1988]:"One thing is clear, and that is that the USS Vincennes acted in self-defense."
Ted Koppel [voice-over]: An official story— Of the American warship as victim. At the right place. At the right time. Minding its own business.
Richard S. Williamson (Assistant Secretary of State, International Organization Affairs, 1988-1989) [July 13, 1988]: "The ship was, at the time of the incident, in international waters."
Ted Koppel [voice-over]: It was official. And untrue. Tonight, the real story of what happened. And why. On July 3rd, 1988. And why the U.S. government tried to cover it up. Koppel, Ted (July 1, 1992), "The USS Vincennes: Public War, Secret War", ABC Nightline, <http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/docs/ir655-nightline-19920701.html>
According to an investigation conducted by ABC News\' Nightline, decoys were set during the war by the US Navy inside the Persian Gulf to lure out the Iranian gunboats and destroy them, and at the time USS Vincennes shot down the Iranian airline, it was performing such an operation.
In 1996 the U.S. agreed to pay $131,800,000 in compensation for the incident, but expressed regret only for the loss of innocent life, and did not make a specific apology to the Iranian government.Rajaee, Farhang. The Iran-Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression. University Press of Florida.
Toward the end of the war, the land conflict regressed into stalemate largely because neither side had enough self-propelled artillery or air power to support ground advances.
The relatively professional Iraqi armed forces could not make headway against the far more numerous Iranian infantry. The Iranians were outmatched in towed and self-propelled artillery, which left their tanks and troops vulnerable. What followed was the Iranians substituting infantry for artillery.
Iraq\'s air force soon began strategic bombing against Iranian cities, chiefly Tehran, in 1985. To minimize losses from the superior Iranian Air Force, Iraq rapidly switched to Scud and Al-Hussein improved Scud launches. In retaliation, Iran fired Scud missiles acquired from Libya and Syria against Baghdad. In all, Iraq launched 520 Scuds and Al-Husseins against Iran and received only 177 in exchange. In October 1986, Iraqi aircraft attacked civilian passenger trains and aircraft, including an Iran Air Boeing 737 unloading passengers at Shiraz International Airport.
In retaliation for the Iranian Operation Karbala-5, an early 1987 attempt to capture Basra, Iraq attacked 65 cities in 226 sorties over 42 days, bombing civilian neighborhoods. Eight Iranian cities came under attack from Iraqi missiles. The bombings killed 65 children in an elementary school in Borujerd alone. The Iranians also responded with Scud missile attacks on Baghdad and struck a primary school there. These events became known as "the war of the cities".
1987 saw a renewed wave of Iranian offensives against targets in both the north and south of Iraq. Iranian troops were stopped by Iraqi prepared defenses in the south in a month-and-a-half long battle for Basra (Operation Karbala-5), but met with more success later in the year in the north as Operations Nasr 4 and Karbala-10 threatened 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, and so 1987 saw little land change hands. 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. Iraq, which had lost important pieces of land over the course of the war, accepted the resolution. Iran, however, was loathe to surrender its gains when total victory seemed close at hand, and so the fighting continued.MSN Encarta Encyclopedia, Iran-Iraq War: Diplomacy and International Involvement, <http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580640_2/Iran-Iraq_War.html>
By April 1988, however, the Iraqi forces had regrouped sufficiently to begin a new series of devastating attacks on the Iranians, and in quick succession recaptured the strategic al-Faw peninsula (lost in 1986 in Operation Dawn-8) and territory around Basra and also struck deep into the Iranian north, capturing much matériel. Following these major setbacks, Iran accepted the terms of Resolution 598. However Iraq, which had seen major victories in the end of the war, thought at first it could invade Iran once more; in the end, Iraqi forces managed to make small gains in Khuzestan but were halted by the Iranians and so Iraq also accepted the terms and on 20 August 1988 peace was restored.
The People\'s Mujahedin of Iran started their ten day operation after the Iranian government accepted UN Resolution 598. While Iraqi forces attacked Khuzestan, the Mujahedin attacked western Iran and battled the Pasdaran for Kermanshah. Close air support from the Iraqis contributed to whatever gains the Mojahedin made. However, under heavy international pressure for ending the war, Saddam Hussein withdrew his fighter aircraft and the sky opened for the Iranian airborne forces to be deployed behind Mojahedin lines. The operation ended in a defeat for the Mojahedin. Casualty figures range from 2,000 to as high as 10,000.
During the early years of the war, Iran\'s arsenal was almost entirely American-made, left over from the Imperial Armed Forces of the dethroned Shah. Iran\'s foreign supporters gradually came to include Syria and Libya. Iran purchased weaponry from North Korea and the People\'s Republic of China, notably the Silkworm anti-ship missile. Iran operated many U.S.-manufactured aircraft. Iranian Armored divisions revolved mainly around M60 and Chieftain tanks. The fleet of around 900 tanks was on par with the British Army[citation needed] and these tanks were the most modern versions available. Iran acquired weapons and parts for its Shah-era U.S. systems through covert arms transactions from officials in the Reagan Administration, first indirectly through Israel and then directly. It was hoped Iran would, in exchange, persuade several radical groups to release U.S. embassy hostages, though this did eventually result. Proceeds from the sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan Contras in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair.
According to the report of the U.S. Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair issued in November 1987, "the sale of U.S. arms to Iran through Israel began in the summer of 1985, after receiving the approval of President Reagan."Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/Iran_Contra_Affair.html These sales included "2,008 BGM-71 TOW anti-Tank missiles, and 235 parts kits for MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles had been sent to Iran via Israel." Further shipments of up to US$2 billion of American weapons from Israel to Iran, consisting of 18 F-4 Phantom II fighter-bombers, 46 A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers, and nearly 4,000 missiles were foiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unverified reports alleged that Israel agreed to sell Iran AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, radar equipment, mortar and machinegun ammunition, field telephones, M-60 tank engines and artillery shells, and spare parts for C-130 transport planes." Introduction [Iran], Globalsecurity.org (John Pike), <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/intro.htm>Kuznetzov, N., Text of Russian \'October Surprise\' Report, <http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russiantext.html> The London Observer also estimated that Israel\'s arms sales to Iran during the war totalled US$ 500 million annually,Hunter, Jane (November 1986), "Special Report: Israeli Arms Sales to Iran", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, <http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1186/8611002.html> For more on Israeli Hawk missile sales to Iran see the Financial Times article, "Arms Embargo Which Cannot Withstand The Profit Motive."Johns,Richard. "Arms Embargo Which Cannot Withstand The Profit Motive", 13 November 1987.
During the war, Iran operated U.S.-manufactured F-4, F-5 and fighters, as well as AH-1 Cobra light attack helicopters, which defended themselves very well against Mi-24s and Gazelle helicopters and had some success defending themselves against Iraqi fighter aircraft. The Iranian Army also possessed M109 Howitzers, Rapier and HAWK missiles, roughly one hundred ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft systems, and Soviet BM-21 multiple rocket launch vehicles (of the Abash variant). It also operated a number of F-14 Tomcat fighters, which, according to a few sources, proved devastating to the Iraqis in the early phases of the war. However, due to the Iranian government\'s estrangement from the United States, spare parts were difficult to obtain. Despite this the Iranians managed to maintain a constant presence with their Tomcats during the entire conflict, mostly due to a combination of spare parts acquired on the black market and parts made in Iran. These were supported by KC-135s, a refueling tanker based on the Boeing 367-80. Iran: Air Force, <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/airforce.htm> Missiles of the IRIAF and Islamic Republic of Iran Army (IRIA) were over 2000 Mavericks, thousands of AIM-9B/J/Ps Sidewinders, and AIM-7Es.
Perhaps the most commented-on and unconventional technique of the war was the use of human wave attacks by Iran, including the use of teenage Basij volunteers, some of whom Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, Norton, (2006), p.132 sacrificed their lives running over fields of landmines or charging heavy fire to clear the way for Iranian ground assaultWright, Sacred Rage, 2001, p.37 or overrun Iraqi positions. Their devotion earned the reverence of pious Iranian revolutionaries and helped drive Iraq from Iran. To this day, the use of estesh-hadiyun (martyrdom-seekers) remains part of Iranian military doctrine.Alfoneh, Ali (Winter 2007), "Iran\'s Suicide Brigades Terrorism Resurgent", Middle East Quarterly, <http://www.meforum.org/article/1059>
