Iran - Iraq War (22 sett 1980 anni – 20 agos 1988 anni)

Descrizione:

Iraq invaded Iran to replace them as the 'dominant Persian Gulf state'. Iraq was also worried that, because of the Iranian revolution, their Shi'ite (one of two main branches of Islam) majority would rebel against their Ba'athist government (socialist pro-Iraqi movement/party).
The war also followed a long history of border disputes, and Iraq planned to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province and the east bank of the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud).

Even though Iran was just post-revolution, they regained nearly all their lost terrority from the war by 1982. Iran was on the offensive until 1988 when proxy forces (such as 'the People's Mujahedin of Iran' siding with Iraq, and at the same time Iraq's Kurdish militia (KDP and PUK) sided with Iran.

The US, Britain, Soviet Union, France and most Arab countries sided with Iraq, so Iran was isolated.

Eventually the UN brokered a cease-fire, which Iran accepted.

Iraq used chemical weapons and deliberately attacked civilian targets.

An estimated 500,000 Iraqi and Iranian soldiers died, in addition to a smaller number of civilians. The end of the war resulted in neither reparations nor border changes.

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