The Tragic Saga of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War

The Prelude to Conflict: Tensions in the Middle East 🏜️

Crouched in a trench near enemy lines, a 13-year old boy adjusts his oversized helmet. Like many of his comrades, he is a conscript in the Iranian paramilitary militia. Except for some desultory fire by enemy pickets, the front is quiet. Suddenly an officer shouts, and the other soldiers scramble to get in line, most of whom are trembling with fear. Ahead of them, atop a gently sloping ridge covered in minefields and barbed wire, the Iraqis stare down their gun barrels, waiting for the inevitable attack. The situation faced by the boy and his fellow conscripts was a common sight during the brutal conflict between the Revolutionary Government of Iran and the Iraqi military dictatorship. As tragic as it was, this was the harsh reality of the 1980s Iran-Iraq War—a war of contradictions and anachronisms, with soldiers choking on clouds of mustard gas and struggling through fields of barbed wire while modern jet fighters exchanged fire above their heads.

The Seeds of War: A Background 🌍

The war was an unavoidable product of the volatile situation present in the Middle East at the time. The relationship between Iran and Iraq was particularly unstable. Saddam Hussein desperately wanted control over the Shatt al-Arab waterway as well as Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province. The 1975 agreement was supposed to have solved this dispute, but Saddam chafed under its constraints. He only signed it to end a Kurdish rebellion supported via Iranian arms shipments. Saddam's militant attitude intensified after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the rise of an Islamic theocratic government opposed to Saddam's secular Baathist dictatorship. Tensions finally boiled over into open hostility on September 22, 1980, when the Iraqi Air Force commenced a preemptive strike on the Iranian Air Force. The following day, six Iraqi ground divisions stormed the border, aiming at the Khuzestan province and Shatt al-Arab waterway.

The Early Stages of the War: Initial Clashes 🔥

Despite the element of surprise, the Iraqi Air Assault faltered due to a lack of modern bombers. Most of the Iranian Air Force was safe inside hardened shelters, allowing Iran to retaliate with their own air raids on Iraq's infrastructure and armored divisions. One of these raids, Operation Scorch Sword, heavily damaged the incomplete Osirak nuclear reactor, 17 kilometers south of Baghdad. Although harried by F-4 Phantom jets and AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopters, the Iraqi columns rumbled toward Khorramshahr. Their advance stalled, bogged down by intense street fighting that produced 7,000 casualties on both sides, including 200 Iraqi armored vehicles. Although a tactical defeat for the Iranians, the 49-day battle delayed the Iraqi advance long enough for 200,000 Iranian volunteers to reach the front lines by early November.

The Escalation: Operations and Counter-Operations 💣

The sieges of the Khuzestan province set the tone for the rest of the war. Denied a decisive victory, Saddam ordered his forces to halt and consolidate their gains in December. On January 5, 1981, Iran launched Operation Nasr, or Victory. Three massive tank columns smashed into the Iraqi defensive lines around the besieged city of Dezful. Although intended as a surprise attack, the Iranian forces were spotted by observation planes as they crossed the Karkheh River. Given time to prepare, the Iraqis bunkered down and waited for the attack to become mired in the treacherous floodplains surrounding Susangerd. The result was a decisive Iraqi victory with 100 to 200 Iranian tanks lost, while the Iraqis lost fewer than 100 fighting vehicles. However, while Saddam continued to dominate on land, the Iranians exploited their advantage in the skies. On April 3, a force of 8 F-4 Phantoms and 4 F-14 Tomcats attacked the H3 airbase. The strike occurred behind enemy lines and was one of the few successful stealth operations of the war. By the time the smoke cleared, at least 27 enemy planes had been destroyed, and major damage had been done to the airfield itself.

The Stalemate and Trench Warfare ⚔️

After these early operations, both combatants settled into a rhythm familiar to any veteran of the Great War. Waves of Iranian conscripts poured themselves into Iraqi fortifications, suffering hundreds of lives for a few meters of blood-soaked sand. Conversely, the Iraqi troops clung to their static defense like limpets, with their commanders unwilling to risk the wrath of their insane dictator by showing any tactical initiative. This impasse led Iranian strategists to realize a crucial flaw with their approach. In March 1982, they launched Operation Undeniable Victory. Although merely an escalation of human wave tactics, the sheer size of the renewed assault was enough to breach the Iraqi defensive line and drive them out of the Khuzestan region. Fueled by sheer determination, Iranian conscripts continued to advance, liberating Khorramshahr on May 24 and pushing the Iraqi military back to the border by late June.

Internal Turmoil: Both Sides Struggle 🤯

When news reached Saddam, heads began to roll. Anyone considered responsible for the Iraqi retreat was executed—at least 300 officers and ten generals by the end of 1983. Apparently too busy killing his own people to continue fighting, Saddam tried suing for peace in mid-1982. However, the Supreme Leader of Iran flatly rejected his proposal, declaring his intent to continue the war until the Baathist regime had been replaced by an Islamic Republic. This declaration was no idle threat. Iran launched Operation Ramadan on July 13, 1982, sending more than 100,000 Revolutionary Guards and militia—some as young as 12—straight toward the entrenched Iraqis. The fervor of these young soldiers initially proved a match for machine guns and artillery collages but quickly faltered against the Iraqis' chemical weapons, deployed in clear violation of the Geneva Convention. Although Operation Ramadan temporarily secured a 50-kilometer stretch of Iraqi territory, it ultimately cost over 20,000 Iranian lives and destroyed 400 armored vehicles. The Iraqis, meanwhile, lost about 9,000 soldiers and at least 700 vehicles.

The Grinder Continues: Indefatigable Combat 💀

Unfortunately for the troops caught in this slaughter, neither side was willing to compromise. Iranian propaganda painted the war as a righteous jihad and a test of their nation's devotion to Allah, ensuring a near-endless wave of fresh soldiers to replace the hideous losses they were suffering. Iraq, meanwhile, began receiving large supplies of war materiel from the Soviet Union and other countries, allowing Saddam to continue his belligerent attitude despite a rising economic crisis. Convinced they could replicate the success of Operation Undeniable Victory, Iran continued their assaults throughout 1983 and early 1984. However, out of seven major offensives, only two were strategic victories. On the other hand, Iran still dominated the air war despite having fewer than 70 operational aircraft. As human waves continued crashing impotently against the Iraqi defensive line, Iranian strategists grasped the need for a new approach.

A New Strategy: The Southern Marshes 🌾

Lacking the equipment to assault Iraqi strongholds, the Iranians began probing for weaknesses along the enemy lines, taking advantage of favorable terrain whenever possible. Such terrain was abundant in the wetlands covering most of southern Iraq, which were also full of Kurdish guerrillas known as the Peshmerga, who were more than willing to cooperate against the genocidal Saddam. Despite training a large commando force for an amphibious assault, Iran's first attack through the marshes in late February 1984 was a disaster. Iraqi forces responded with mustard gas and submerged electrical cables, turning whole sections of marshland into inescapable death traps. Over 40,000 Iranian troops and 49 helicopters were lost in the assault, making this one of the bloodiest battles of the war so far.

Economic Strain and International Intrigues 💸

Around this time, Iraq's economy also began to falter. Syria, a supporter of Iran, closed a crucial pipeline, preventing Iraqi oil from reaching tankers in the Mediterranean and decreasing the Iraqi budget by $5 billion a month. In response, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Arab countries intervened on Iraq's behalf, fearing the growing influence of Iran in the region. In true Gulf State fashion, their aid came in the form of $60 billion in subsidies per year. Western European countries and the U.S. were sympathetic to Iraq as well. The U.S. increased support in 1982 by providing diplomatic, monetary, and military support, including billions of dollars in loans, political influence, and intelligence on Iranian deployments gathered by American spy satellites. Meanwhile, at sea, Iraq began targeting Iranian shipping in order to provoke Iran into closing the vital Strait of Hormuz, which would almost certainly trigger American intervention. Iran retaliated by attacking Iraqi shipping, and the two sides waged a tanker war for the next five years, causing damage to 546 commercial vessels and the deaths of 450 sailors.

Civilian Casualties Mount 😢

Unable to conduct offensive ground operations, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi Air Force to begin bombing civilian targets. Between 1984 and 1985, large-scale air raids racked up a civilian body count in the tens of thousands. To counter these atrocities, Iran developed a highly sophisticated defense network, combining interceptors and surface-to-air missiles to successfully deter Iraqi aircraft. In response, Iraq started employing Soviet-made Scud missiles and domestically-manufactured al-Hussein missiles. While notoriously inaccurate, the al-Hussein possessed a 1,100-pound high-explosive warhead and a 400-mile range, making it a potent terror weapon. During a seven-week period in 1988, al-Husseins killed 2,000 Iranian civilians and injured 6,000 more. Not wanting to leave these provocations unanswered, Iran purchased Scuds from Libya and launched them against Baghdad.

Turning Points: Major Battles and Shifts 🔄

Back on the front line, Iran finally won a major victory in the First Battle of al-Faw in early 1986, severing Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf. Saddam's forces countered by seizing the city of Mehran in mid-May but lost it to the enemy again in June. Desperate to avoid further incursions, Iraq adopted a dynamic defense strategy that enlisted the support of the entire civilian population. Male university students were drafted into the military in droves, and civilians were ordered to clear marshlands and help construct static defenses. Vast quantities of foreign equipment poured into Iraq, allowing Saddam to expand his military to 600,000 men, making it the fourth largest in the world. Heedless of the odds stacked against them, Iran staged a three-pronged offensive aimed at capturing the city of Basra on December 25, 1986. Iranian forces attempted to capture the island of Umm ar-Rasas but sustained 16,000 casualties in the process.

The Great Harvest and Its Aftermath 🌾

All this was just a prelude to the main Iranian attack: Operation Karbala-5, also known as the Great Harvest. It was the largest battle of the war, pitching 300,000 determined Iraqi defenders against 150,000 to 200,000 Iranian invaders. After weeks of assaults and an artillery bombardment that reduced most of Basra to smoking ruins, the Great Harvest had reaped nothing more than 65,000 Iranian casualties. This was the beginning of the end. Throughout the rest of 1987, Iran mounted no more major offensives, and the rhetoric of a holy jihad began to falter in the face of war exhaustion. Already strained by years of warfare and economic sanctions, the Iranian economy virtually collapsed under the additional weight of Iraqi missile attacks and bombing campaigns.

The War's Conclusion and Its Legacy 🖋️

In July 1987, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 598, urging a ceasefire and a return to pre-war boundaries. However, Saddam was too busy preparing for future offensives to heed this call for peace, and his Iranian counterpart, Ruhollah Khomeini, still believed in a divine justification for war. Ultimately for Khomeini, no amount of zeal for Allah could save the Iranian forces from defeat at the Second Battle of al-Faw in mid-April 1988. Buoyed by their victory, the Iraqis initiated Operation Trust in God on May 25. Over the next two months, Iraqi forces won a series of victories, inflicting 32,000 casualties on the Iranians while sustaining only 5,000 themselves and capturing vast quantities of equipment. Under pressure from his advisers to end the war, Khomeini grudgingly accepted the UN's proposed ceasefire on July 20. Although pockets of fighting lasted until mid-August, the Iran-Iraq War had finally come to an end. The conflict resulted in tremendous death and destruction on both sides, with casualty figures ranging in the hundreds of thousands and total economic losses estimated around $1.2 trillion.

The Post-War Fallout and Iraq's Ascendancy 📉

Above all, Iraq emerged from the conflict as the dominant power in the Middle East, thereby emboldening Saddam to continue his expansionist policies. This newfound boldness would lead to a climactic showdown with the West three years later during the Gulf War. The immense cost of the Iran-Iraq War, both in human and economic terms, left deep scars on both nations, shaping their futures in profound ways. While the war ended in a stalemate, the reverberations of this brutal conflict would continue to affect regional geopolitics for decades to come, revealing the stark reality of military aggression and ideological zeal.

 

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