On this day in military history…
The Iran-Iraq War was a brutal and prolonged military conflict that began on September 22, 1980, when Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran. This war, which lasted until August 20, 1988, became one of the longest and most devastating conventional wars of the 20th century. Its origins lay in a complex mixture of territorial disputes, political rivalry, ideological tensions, and regional ambitions.
At the time, Iraq was ruled by President Saddam Hussein, a secular Arab nationalist and leader of the Ba'ath Party. Iran had recently undergone a dramatic transformation with the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which had overthrown the Western-backed monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought to power a theocratic regime under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini's Islamic Republic was ideologically opposed to Saddam Hussein’s secular government, and he had openly called for the overthrow of Saddam and the export of Islamic revolution throughout the region, particularly to Iraq's Shi'a majority, which Saddam feared could rise against him.
The immediate cause of the war was a long-standing territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a vital channel for oil exports that forms part of the border between the two countries. Though a 1975 treaty had settled the dispute in Iran’s favor, Saddam saw an opportunity to revoke it amid the internal chaos in post-revolutionary Iran. Believing Iran was weak, disorganized, and internationally isolated after its revolution, Saddam aimed to assert Iraqi dominance in the Persian Gulf and seize territory, including the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzestan, which he believed would welcome Iraqi forces as liberators.
The initial Iraqi invasion met with some success, but the Iranian resistance quickly stiffened. Iran, despite being in political disarray and lacking in military supplies due to Western sanctions, mobilized massive numbers of volunteers and used a mix of conventional and irregular tactics, including human wave assaults. The war soon ground into a stalemate, with both sides launching massive offensives and counteroffensives across a static front. Neither side was able to achieve a decisive breakthrough. Cities were bombed, infrastructure destroyed, and trenches dug, reminiscent of World War I warfare.
The war dragged on for eight grueling years, turning into a war of attrition. Chemical weapons were used extensively by Iraq, particularly against Iranian forces and even Iraqi Kurdish civilians. Civilian centers were also targeted in what became known as the "War of the Cities," where both countries launched missile and air strikes on each other’s urban populations. Meanwhile, the international community largely turned a blind eye to Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, seeing Saddam as a bulwark against the spread of Iran’s Islamic revolution.
Throughout the war, the United States, Soviet Union, and most Arab nations covertly or overtly supported Iraq with arms, intelligence, and financing, while Iran received limited assistance from countries like Syria, North Korea, and Libya. The infamous Iran-Contra scandal revealed that even the U.S., while publicly supporting Iraq, had secretly sold arms to Iran in exchange for hostages and to fund anti-communist rebels in Central America.
The human cost of the war was staggering. Estimates suggest that between 500,000 and one million people died, with countless others wounded or permanently disabled. Millions more were displaced, and both countries suffered massive economic losses due to the destruction of infrastructure and the loss of oil revenues. The war severely damaged both nations’ economies and left deep social and psychological scars on their populations.
After eight years of fighting, with no clear military victory in sight and mounting internal and external pressure, Iran agreed to a United Nations-brokered ceasefire in 1988, which was formally implemented under UN Security Council Resolution 598. The ceasefire took effect on August 20, 1988. Neither side could claim outright victory. Saddam Hussein remained in power and declared that Iraq had defended itself successfully against Iranian aggression. Iran, meanwhile, portrayed its resistance as a moral and religious victory, even though it had failed to overthrow Saddam or spread its revolution.
Territorially, the war ended essentially where it had begun, with no significant gains for either side. The borders returned to the status quo ante bellum, and the 1975 Algiers Agreement over the Shatt al-Arab was eventually reaffirmed years later. Iran emerged with its revolutionary regime intact, having demonstrated resilience under fire, while Iraq, though heavily indebted and economically weakened, retained Saddam’s control over the state—though this would set the stage for future conflicts, particularly the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf War.
In the end, the Iran-Iraq War achieved little except immense human suffering and regional instability. It demonstrated the dangers of ideological extremism, unchecked ambition, and the global community's often self-interested involvement in regional conflicts. The war left deep scars that shaped the political and military landscape of the Middle East for decades to come.
