Relations with Iraq

Geographical cause

Iraq wanted control of the Shatt al-Arab Waterway - disputed territory for centuries and Iraq's only access point to the Persian Gulf, as Iraq lacks a long Gulf coast like Iran's

Ideological cause

Iraq wanted to stop Khomeini's attempts to spread his Islamic Revolution; by late 1979 Iran was pushing Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite populations to revolt and Iranian operatives were trying to assassinate senior Iraqi officials

Assassination attempt on Tariq Aziz

April 1980 - Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr and militant Shias attempted to assassinate Hussein's deputy prime minister

Iraq's perception of Iranian weakness

After the revolution many Iranian military leaders had been purged and Iran was isolated internationally; Iraq was well supplied by the Soviet Union and could court American support by attempting to overthrow Khomeini

Iraq's strengths in 1980

Unprecedented $30,000 million in oil revenue, a good field army, good air force and excellent relations with other Gulf states; Iraq also expected the Arab population of oil-rich Khuzestan to help

Military spending comparison

1969-78: Iraqi defence expenditure grew by 260% (Iran's grew by 580% in the same period); Iraqi oil revenue rose from under $1 billion in 1970 to $26 billion in 1980

Rise of Saddam

Acquired supreme power in July 1979; bombarded Qasr-e Shirin on the Iranian border, expelled Iranians en masse, and ordered the execution of Ayatollah Sadr (the 'Khomeini of Iraq')

Saddam's internal motives

Feared a revolt by the Shia in the south and possible civil war; wanted to destroy the Khomeini government and end its inspiration; his small constitutional basis of support, concentrated in a Sunni minority, favoured a decisive military response

Border fighting begins

2 September 1980 at Qasr-e Shirin, with Iran retaliating by shelling two Iraqi border towns; on 6 September Iraq threatened to seize the Zain al-Qaws area, prompting more shells, and claimed to have overrun the border area between 7 and 13 December

Abrogation of the Algiers Accord

17 September 1980 - Saddam claimed Iran had violated the accord by undermining the regime, backing guerrilla forces and refusing to return Iraqi territory; he abrogated the Accord, claiming full sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab; Tehran disputed this and fighting broke out along the waterway

The invasion

22 September 1980 - Iraqi armour rolled across the border facing a mobilised Iran

Operation Jerusalem Way

Iran used human wave tactics with the youthful Basij volunteer group

War of the cities

Mainly 1984-88; 1984 missile attacks hit 30 Iranian settlements, killing 1,200 civilians

War of the tankers

Intensified in 1984 - both sides attacked neutral oil tankers to ruin each other's economy, causing US intervention; the US offered to escort Kuwaiti ships through the Gulf, and by the end of 1987 Iran faced a multinational armada of nearly 50 warships

Why the war lasted 8 years

22 September 1980 - 20 August 1988: Iran's population was 3 times larger, but Iraq had more sophisticated weaponry and a larger, more highly trained officer corps

Why the death toll was so high

The long conflict, extensive use of chemical weapons, frequent bombing of civilian populations and attacks on oil shipments - over 1 million soldiers died

Foreign support for Iraq

Considerable support from the US, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and France, largely because these states were determined to prevent the spread of Khomeini's Islamic revolution

Cost to Iran

$622 billion and the lives of half a million soldiers; workers had a day's pay deducted each month to fund the war; 400,000 Iranians received injuries requiring long-term treatment and 150,000 children were orphaned

Khomeini's use of the war

Unified Iranians against a common enemy, urging them to "cut off the hands of America, which have emerged from Saddam's sleeves"; patriotic slogans included "road to Jerusalem goes through Baghdad"

War culture

Between 1980 and 1992, 1,600 short stories and 46 novels on the war were published by more than 258 writers; movies such as "The Horizon" and "The Imposed War" portrayed the war as a religious fight and glorified martyrdom

Mohammad Fahmideh

A 13-year-old Basij soldier who sacrificed himself to stop an enemy tank; Khomeini's propaganda: "Our leader is that 13-year-old child, who… threw himself with a grenade under the enemy tank"