Iran-Iraq War Begins

Setting the scene

The Iran-Iraq War began on September 22, 1980, when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, hoping to exploit post-revolutionary chaos and seize oil-rich Khuzestan province. Saddam, a Sunni leading a Sunni-dominated regime, feared Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution would inspire Iraq's Shia majority to revolt. He also wanted to become the dominant power in the Persian Gulf and abrogate the 1975 Algiers Agreement that gave Iran half the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

What happened

Iraq launched airstrikes and sent 200,000 troops across the border, expecting a quick victory. Instead, Iranians rallied around the revolution, and the war bogged down into trench warfare reminiscent of World War I, with human wave attacks, chemical weapons, and missile strikes on cities. The war lasted eight years, with neither side able to win. Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians at Halabja in 1988.

Why it still matters

The war ended in stalemate on August 20, 1988, after UN mediation, with borders unchanged. It killed 500,000 to 1 million people and cost $1 trillion. The war devastated both economies and created conditions for future conflicts—Saddam's debt from the war contributed to his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The war demonstrated the brutality of modern trench warfare and the willingness of both sides to sacrifice a generation for no territorial gain. September 22, 1980, began the longest conventional war of the 20th century.

Background

Stalemate and gas weapons scarred the region.