Iran–Iraq War facts for kids

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Iran–Iraq War

Part of the Cold War, aftermath of the Iranian revolution, Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, and Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict

Top-left to bottom-right:

An Iranian child soldier on the frontlines
An Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks
The USS Stark listing to port after being struck by an Iraqi Exocet missile
Burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of Operation Mersad
Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces
The 152 mm gun-howitzer D-20 being used by the Iranian Army

Date	22 September 1980 – 20 August 1988 (7 years, 10 months, 4 weeks and 1 day)
Location	Iran Iraq
Result	Inconclusive
Territorial changes	Status quo ante bellum

Belligerents

Iran

Iraq

KDP

PUK

ISCI

Islamic Dawa Party

Hezbollah

Shia volunteers

DRFLA

MEK

NCRI

PKDI
Salvation Force
Arab volunteers

Commanders and leaders

Main Iranian leaders:

Main Iraqi leaders:

Units involved

See order of battle

Strength

Start of war:
110,000–215,000 soldiers

1,700–2,100 tanks,

(500–1,150 operable)
1,000–1,900 armoured vehicles,
(1,300 operable)
300–1,100 artillery pieces,
421–485 fighter-bombers,
(200–205 fully operational)
750–835 helicopters
(240 fully operational)

In 1982:
350,000 soldiers,
700 tanks,
2,700 armoured vehicles,
400 artillery pieces,
350 aircraft,
700 helicopters

In 1988:
600,000–850,000 soldiers,
1,500+ tanks,
800–1,400 armoured vehicles,
600–900 heavy artillery pieces,
60–80 fighter-bombers,
70–90 helicopters

KDP: 45,000 Peshmerga (1986–88)
PUK: 12,000 Peshmerga (1986–88)

Start of war:
200,000–210,000 soldiers

1,750–2,800 tanks,

2,350–4,000 APCs,
1,350–1,400 artillery pieces,
295–380 fighter-bombers,
300–350 helicopters

In 1982:
175,000 soldiers,
1,200 tanks,
2,300 armoured vehicles,
400 artillery pieces,
450 aircraft,
180 helicopters

In 1988:
800,000–1,500,000 soldiers,
3,400–5,000 tanks,
4,500–10,000 APCs,
2,300–12,000 artillery pieces,
360–900 fighter-bombers,
140–1,000 helicopters

KDPI: 30,000 Peshmerga (1980–83)
MEK: 15,000 fighters (1981–83, 87–88)

Casualties and losses

Military dead:
200,000–600,000

123,220–160,000 KIA,

60,711 MIA
(Iranian claim)
800,000 killed
(Iraqi claim)

320,000–500,000 WIA
40,000–42,875 POW
11,000–16,000 civilian dead

Economic loss:

$627 billion

Military dead:
105,000–500,000

400,000 WIA

70,000 POW

Economic loss:

$561 billion

Civilian dead: 100,000+
Total dead:
450,000–500,000

The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 by both sides. Iraq's primary rationale for the attack against Iran cited the need to prevent Ruhollah Khomeini—who had spearheaded the Iranian revolution in 1979—from exporting the new Iranian ideology to Iraq. There were also fears among the Iraqi leadership of Saddam Hussein that Iran, a theocratic state with a population predominantly composed of Shia Muslims, would exploit sectarian tensions in Iraq by rallying Iraq's Shia majority against the Baʽathist government, which was officially secular but dominated by Sunni Muslims. Iraq also wished to replace Iran as the power player in the Persian Gulf, which was not seen as an achievable objective prior to the Islamic Revolution because of Pahlavi Iran's economic and military superiority as well as its close relationships with the United States and Israel.

The Iran–Iraq War followed a long-running history of territorial border disputes between the two states, as a result of which Iraq planned to retake the eastern bank of the Shatt al-Arab that it had ceded to Iran in the 1975 Algiers Agreement. Iraqi support for Arab separatists in Iran increased following the outbreak of hostilities; Saddam disputedly may have wished to annex Iran's Arab-majority Khuzestan province.

While the Iraqi leadership had hoped to take advantage of Iran's post-revolutionary chaos and expected a decisive victory in the face of a severely weakened Iran, the Iraqi military only made progress for three months, and by December 1980, the Iraqi invasion had stalled. The Iranian military began to gain momentum against the Iraqis and regained all lost territory by June 1982. After pushing Iraqi forces back to the pre-war border lines, Iran rejected United Nations Security Council Resolution 514 and launched an invasion of Iraq. The subsequent Iranian offensive within Iraqi territory lasted for five years, with Iraq taking back the initiative in mid-1988 and subsequently launching a series of major counter-offensives that ultimately led to the conclusion of the war in a stalemate.

The eight years of war-exhaustion, economic devastation, decreased morale, military stalemate, inaction by the international community towards the use of weapons of mass destruction by Iraqi forces on Iranian soldiers and civilians, as well as increasing Iran–United States military tensions all culminated in Iran's acceptance of a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations Security Council. In total, around 500,000 people were killed during the Iran–Iraq War, with Iran bearing the larger share of the casualties, excluding the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the concurrent Anfal campaign that targeted Iraqi Kurdistan. The end of the conflict resulted in neither reparations nor border changes, and the combined financial losses suffered by both combatants is believed to have exceeded US$1,000,000,000,000. There were a number of proxy forces operating for both countries: Iraq and the pro-Iraqi Arab separatist militias in Iran were most notably supported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran; whereas Iran re-established an alliance with the Iraqi Kurds, being primarily supported by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. During the conflict, Iraq received an abundance of financial, political, and logistical aid from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, and the overwhelming majority of Arab countries. While Iran was comparatively isolated, it received a significant amount of aid from Syria, Libya, China, North Korea, Israel, Pakistan, and South Yemen.

The conflict has been compared to World War I in terms of the tactics used by both sides, including large-scale trench warfare with barbed wire stretched across fortified defensive lines, manned machine-gun posts, bayonet charges, Iranian human wave attacks, Iraq's extensive use of chemical weapons, and deliberate attacks on civilian targets.

Images for kids

Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.
Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.
Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex
Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was also commander-in-chief, on a Jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless anti-tank gun. Banisadr was impeached in June 1981.
The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border
Destroyed Iranian C-47 Skytrain
Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles .
Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront
The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.
Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during the war
Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran
Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr
An admonitory declaration issued from the Iraqi government in order to warn Iranian troops in the Iran–Iraq War. The statement says: "Hey Iranians! No one has been downtrodden in the country where Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib, Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali are buried. Iraq has undoubtedly been an honorable country. All refugees are precious. Anyone who wants to live in exile can choose Iraq freely. We, the Sons of Iraq, have been ambushing foreign aggressors. The enemies who plan to assault Iraq will be disfavoured by God in this world and the hereafter. Be careful of attacking Iraq and Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib! If you surrender, you might be in peace."
95,000 Iranian child soldiers were made casualties during the Iran–Iraq War, mostly between the ages of 16 and 17, with a few younger.
Furthest ground gains
Iranian POWs in 1983 near Tikrit, Iraq
Iranian child soldier
Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer
Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H
Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)
A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".
Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)
Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War
The People's Mujahedin of Iran, supported by Saddam, started a ten-day operation after both the Iranian and Iraqi governments accepted UN Resolution 598. Casualty estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.
Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war
IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.
Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives
Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.
Iranian Martyr Cemetery in Isfahan
Iranian Martyrs Museum in Tehran
An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013
An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran
President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.
Stark listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.
Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

Iran–Iraq War facts for kids

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