Iraq Iran War

Iraq Iran war

The Iraq- Iran war was the longest and bloodiest war of the 20th century. It had many names with historians calling it the Persian Gulf War while Iranians called it the imposed war. Why did the conflict occur? Many reasons emerged to validate the Iraq-Iran war. According to historians, the root causes of the war were historic and deeply ingrained in concerns over internal security and territorial boundaries. Though the reasons were overlapping the actual reasons that ignited Iraq to attack Iran were as follows; the fate of Khuzestan province, Iraq access to the Persian Gulf, Iraqi mistrust of the then newly elected government of Ayatollah Khomeini and control of the Shatt al- Arab water way (Baylis et al, 2007).

Notwithstanding, the main catalyst for the war was the individuality of the then Iraq leader Saddam Hussein. In his tenure as the Iraq leader, he was always violent with his neighbors, and the attack on Iran was not a big surprise. The disputed Khuzestan province borders Iraq, and is enriched with oil reserves. The inhabitants of the province are mainly non Persian. Persians on the other hand, are the largest dominant group in Iran. Most residents in Khuzestan are Arabs who have cultural ties with their counterparts in the west of Iraq. Iraq had over the years claimed ownership of the oil rich province a claim Iran had denied repeatedly (Baylis et al, 2007).

Iraq also claimed ownership of some smaller islands on the Persian Gulf which had been militarily occupied by Iranians. The territorial dispute of the Shatt al- Arab water way was also another cause of the conflict. Over the years, the two countries had battled to control the waterway. Though the Algiers 1975 Accord settled the dispute, Iraq revived its claims during the war to control the waterway (Baylis et al, 2007).

It is no secret Iraq has restricted access of the Gulf while their neighbors Iran have a long coastline with several Persian Gulf ports. This is one reason they needed to control the Shatt al- Arab water way as it would have been strategic and economical to the country. Generally, Iraq had many reasons to invade Iran not forgetting its craving to be the leading state in the Persian Gulf region (Baylis et al, 2007).

How did the conflict happen? It is necessary to examine some history of the two countries to understand clearly how the war happened. When Iran was under the rule of Shah, Iran was a close ally of the US, and their alliance with US developed Iran to a formidable force in the region. Iran was in a position to access sophisticated weapons from the US and they bought a substantial amount including the F-14 Tomcat fighter aircrafts (Azhary, 1984).

When Shah was overthrown in Iran, chaos erupted and this presented a transitory opportunity for Iraq to invade Iran. At the time of the war, domestic policies in Iran were unsettled as different factions were fighting for power. The military of Iran had been degraded as most senior officers had fled the country, in fear of the Islamic revolution. Thus, Saddam Hussein saw the ideal opportunity of striking Iran to emerge as the sole authority in the Persian Gulf region. This as the Iraqis thought would bring Iran government down. With all its faults, Iraq had the clear advantage of not been Iran during the war ( (Azhary, 1984).

By spring in 1980, tension was high between Baghdad and Tehran. These tensions were escalated by the attempted assassination of Iraqi foreign minister by Iranian sponsored hooligans. In response to this, the Iraqi government executed Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al -Sadr, a famous Iraq Shia cleric who had candidly supported the Islamic revolution in Iran. By June 1980, Iran and Iraq broke their diplomatic ties and this was characterized by minor border clashes between Iranian and Iraqi troops (Azhary, 1984).

In September 1980, Iraq affirmed the Shatt al- Arab water way their region, and on 22nd September 1980, they invaded Iran. During the first few months of the war, Iraqis were quite successful as they were well equipped with artillery and equipment. They also succeeded in gaining territory on the disputed Khuzestan province. This was only short lived. With time, Iranians gained momentum with the public rallying against them, and the Iranian air force also became a dreadful force to deal with. A major offensive launched by Iran in January 1981 failed, and this was followed by a period of stalemate (Baylis et al, 2007).

In spite of the impasse, both countries rejected a ceasefire with Iran unwilling to make concessions as long as Iraq was occupying their territory. Iran used a method to harness the true believers of the Islamic revolution, and this helped to defuse the supremacy of the Iraqi army. Prominent clerics in Iran promised volunteers who died defending the Islamic revolution from Iraq rewards of martyrdom in the afterlife. This led to massive suicide missions by Iranian volunteers against Iraqis (Baylis et al, 2007).

The teenage volunteers were used as human shields to clear the way for the Iranian military. Their efforts succeeded and Iran was able to reclaim its territory in 1982 even advancing inside Iraqi territory. In 1982, Saddam offered a cease fire which was rejected by Iran as they were now holding the advantage in the conflict. Iran's goals had surpassed defense and territorial issues, and their imminent goal was to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein (Azhary, 1984).

The war later took a different shift with Iran and Iraq attacking oil tankers bound for enemy nations. This was meant to cripple the economies of each country which were dependent on oil. In mid 1980's, the attack of oil vessels became a common phenomenon and this became a concern to exporting countries of the east and importing countries of the west. Economists warned of dire global consequences if the interruptions continued in the Gulf region (Azhary, 1984).

In response to Iranian attacks on Kuwait vessels, the then US president Ronald Reagan intervened and the US begun reflagging Kuwait oil vessels from 1987. This was an enormous boost for Iraq whose ally Kuwait transported their oil under the US flag. During the entire war, Kuwait transported Iraq's oil uninterrupted. It was no secret the US supported Iraq to the extent of offering intelligence at certain times of the conflict (Azhary, 1984).

As the conflict continued, none of the troops made a clear cut military breakthrough that would force the other to concede defeat, and the conflict settled in to a stalemate. Iraq was struggling from the pressures of the populous Iran as the war seemed to have strengthened the Iranian regime (Azhary, 1984).

Since Iraq was unable