Iran-Iraq War

The Iran-Iraq War was an armed conflict fought between Iraq and Iran from September 22, 1980, to August 20, 1988. Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces invaded Iran along a broad front following the instability created by the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which had deposed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought the Islamic Republic to power. The war lasted eight years, killed an estimated 500,000 to one million people, and ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire with no territorial changes. It is among the most costly conflicts of the late twentieth century.¹

Origins and Opening Phase

Saddam Hussein invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, intending a rapid victory against a government he believed had been weakened by revolution and the purge of its military officers. Iraqi forces advanced rapidly into Khuzestan province, capturing portions of territory and besieging the city of Khorramshahr. Iranian resistance stiffened, however, and within months the Iraqi advance had stalled. By 1982, Iran had expelled Iraqi forces from most captured territory and launched counteroffensives into Iraqi territory, including toward Basra.¹

Western Support for Iraq

From approximately 1982 onward, the Reagan administration tilted toward Iraq as a counterweight to Iran, whose Islamic Revolutionary regime Washington viewed as a greater threat. The Central Intelligence Agency began providing Iraq with satellite imagery of Iranian military positions and signals intelligence. The CIA also passed battlefield assessments to Iraqi commanders. U.S. agricultural credits through the Commodity Credit Corporation were extended to Iraq and used to free up Iraqi hard currency for arms purchases.²

Donald Rumsfeld visited Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in December 1983 as President Reagan's special envoy, a visit documented in State Department cables released decades later. The visit cemented the relationship at a moment when U.S. intelligence was tracking Iraqi chemical weapons use against Iranian troops. The Reagan administration continued to provide intelligence and credits despite this knowledge.

The BNL scandal - involving the Atlanta branch of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro - grew out of Iraq's use of loans to purchase weapons and dual-use technology during the war. British arms dealer networks, later examined in the Arms-to-Iraq affair and the Scott Inquiry, similarly supplied Iraq with equipment during this period.

Chemical Weapons

Iraq used chemical weapons extensively against Iranian forces and, in March 1988, against the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing an estimated 3,200 to 5,000 people. Halabja was the largest chemical weapons attack against a civilian population in history. The weapons used included mustard gas and nerve agents, the precursors for which had been supplied in part through Western dual-use technology transfers. The Reagan administration suppressed State Department condemnation of the Halabja attack for diplomatic reasons.²

Iran-Contra Intersection

Simultaneously with its public support for Iraq, the Reagan administration secretly approved arms transfers to Iran in the arms-for-hostages arrangement that became the Iran-Contra Affair. Israel transferred TOW anti-tank missiles and HAWK surface-to-air missiles to Iran beginning in August 1985, with American acquiescence arranged by National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane following David Kimche's approach. Arms continued to flow through 1986. The profits from the weapons sales were diverted to the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua. The paradox of arming both sides of the same war was central to the Iran-Contra scandal's political impact when it became public in November 1986.¹

Ceasefire and Aftermath

Iran accepted UN Security Council Resolution 598 on July 20, 1988, which had been passed in July 1987. Iraq accepted on August 8, 1988. The ceasefire took effect August 20, 1988. Both sides had been economically and demographically devastated. Iraq's massive debt - including to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Western creditors - and its large standing military became factors in Saddam Hussein's subsequent decision to invade Kuwait in 1990.²