What is the Iran-Iraq War?

The Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, that is, the Iran-Iraq war, broke out in 1980 in September and ended in 1988 in August, lasting eight years. Territorial disputes are the main causes of the Iran-Iraq war, as well as religious factions, ethnic disputes and personal grievances of leaders. This is a local war with the longest duration and the biggest consumption loss after World War II. The war once led to the serious confrontation between the two superpowers in the Gulf region, making the tense Gulf situation once again the focus of international attention.

Iran and Iraq are close neighbors, and the border between the two countries is 1280 km long. The territorial, ethnic and religious contradictions between the two sides have a long history, and no one will give in. Even if an agreement is reached, it will not be resolved sincerely.

Iran has a population of more than 34 million, mainly Persians, and Arabs are only about 2 million. For a long time, Arabs have been fighting for national equality and autonomy. Khomeini promised autonomy before taking office, but failed to fulfill his promise after taking office. Khomeini hated that the Arabs rose up and Iraq provided them with weapons and funds. In addition, there are millions of Kurds in both countries, and both sides support the Kurds of both sides against each other's government. In this way, the accumulated grievances of ethnic disputes have deepened.

The direct cause of the war was the unrest in Iran in 1978. Iraq supported King Pahlavi of Iran and expelled Khomeini who lived in Iraq. 1February, 979, Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown and Khomeini came to power. Huo advocated exporting the "Islamic Revolution" and inciting Iraqi Shiites to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime. 1In August, 980, Iran unilaterally declared that it did not recognize the Algiers Agreement. At the beginning of September, Iraq regained Zaingos and other places controlled by Iran for a long time by force, and then announced the abolition of the Algiers Agreement, which led to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war.

After the war began, the forces invested by the two sides were: Iraq/KOOC-0/0 division,/KOOC-0//KOOC-0/0000 men,/KOOC-0/500 tanks and more than 300 aircraft; Iran has seven divisions, more than 70,000 people, 1 1,000 tanks and 1 1,50 aircraft. In addition, tens of thousands of reserve troops from both sides participated in the war. The war generally went through the following three periods:

The first period (1September 22nd, 980 to 12, July, 0982 12) saw the Iran war. 1at dawn on September 22nd, 980, a large number of Iraqi planes attacked Teheran, Tabrizi and other cities and air bases. At 3am on 23rd, five divisions of the ground forces (including three armored divisions and two infantry divisions), with about 50,000 men and 1 1,000 tanks, launched an attack on Iran in three directions: north, middle and south. By the 29th, it had penetrated into Iran15-30km, occupied nearly 400km of Iranian territory and controlled the east bank of the Arabian River. During this 40-day period, Iraq seized a large area of land 30 to 90 kilometers deep in Iran by surprise attack and won the initiative on the battlefield.

1980165438+1October, Iran launched a partial counterattack, and Iraq turned to full-line defense. Because Iraq is unable to launch further effective attacks, it is gradually passive. Iran has stabilized the war situation and gradually changed its passive posture.

1since March 1982, Iran turned to counterattack and Iraq was forced to retreat. In the early morning of March 22nd, Iran dispatched more than 30,000 regular troops from three divisions and some revolutionary guards to launch a counter-offensive campaign codenamed "Operation Victory". Abbas and other towns, about 2,000 square kilometers of lost land were recovered, and Iraq was forced to retreat 30 to 60 kilometers.

After winning the war, Iran adjusted its deployment. After about 1 month's preparation, the offensive campaign codenamed "Operation Al-Quds" was launched in the early morning of April 30th, and its main force broke through the defense of the Iraqi army, advanced to the border between the two countries, and threatened the southern city of Khorramshahr. On June 10, Iraq declared a unilateral ceasefire, and on June 29th, its troops basically withdrew from Iran. Since then, the border between the two countries has basically returned to the pre-war state.

The second period (1July 1982 13 to1March 1984) was the Iraq war. 1982, 13 On the night of July, Iran, with about 654.38+million people including the Revolutionary Guards of the regular army, launched an offensive campaign codenamed "Ramadan Operation" in the southern Iraqi city of Basra with the support of heavy artillery fire. 8 to 20 kilometers deep into Iraq. In the morning of 14, with the support of 1 division 2 brigade and helicopter gunships, Iraq stopped attacking and quickly turned to counterattack, forcing Iranian troops to retreat to an arc zone about 5 kilometers from the border in Iraq. Since then, Iran has launched three more attacks, and no progress has been made.

1 982101month1day, Iran launched an attack on the Mandali region in northern Iraq. 65438+1 October1early morning, the Iranian army dispatched more than 50,000 people to launch a campaign codenamed "Muslim Ibn-Aghir" in the Iraqi border city of Mandali, which took control of the strategic highway between Mandali and Hana, Nafta, posing a threat to Baghdad. Iraqi troops have launched seven counterattacks to stop Iranian troops from moving along the border. Since 1 February, 1983, Iran has launched the "Dawn1,2, 3, 4, 5" offensive mainly on the central and northern lines. With the advantage of home-fighting, Iraq organized an effective counterattack against the Iranian offensive and basically held the defense line. Due to the fierce fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses. By the end of March 1984, the Iranian offensive had basically stopped.

In the third period (1April 1984 to1August 1988), the two sides attacked and defended each other in the border areas, and the war turned into a long-term war of attrition. 1from April to may, 1984, Iraq launched a "ship attack war" that shocked the world. At most, eight Iranian ships (mostly oil tankers) were attacked one day. In August, Iraq began a large-scale air raid on Kharg Island and attacked oil tankers travelling to and from the island, which damaged Iran's oil exports. In June1984-June 1985, Iraq launched another "city siege war" and nearly 400 cities in Iran were attacked. Subsequently, the "attacking the city slightly" of both sides was further upgraded. 1On February 27th, 988, "attacking the city slightly" reached its highest level in eight years, and Iraq dispatched planes to bomb Tehran refinery. The next day, Iran retaliated by bombing Basra and five other cities. On the 29th, it also fired three missiles at Baghdad. The "siege" caused great damage to many cities on both sides, and a large number of civilians were killed and injured.

At the same time, the two sides launched a "tanker war" at sea. Iraq attacked the oil tanker from 1984. In order to force the United States and other countries to put further pressure on Iran, Iraq also attacked oil tankers in Panama, Greece, Kuwait, Britain, the United States and other countries with missiles in an attempt to involve the United States in the Gulf conflict.

1On July 22nd, 987, the United States was openly involved in the Iran-Iraq conflict. On June 1 1, the United States dispatched armed helicopters to attack the Iranian landing craft Acer, which laid mines on the high seas for the first time. 6543818 October, armed helicopters were dispatched to attack four Iranian gunboats, sinking two and injuring two. On June 65438+1October 15 and 16, Iran launched a shore-to-ship missile, which hit the American oil tanker Sengari flying the Liberian flag and the Kuwaiti oil tanker flying the American flag. 1On July 3rd, 988, the American cruiser Vincens shot down an Iranian Airlines A300 passenger plane flying over the Strait of Hormuz with missiles, killing 290 passengers and crew.

The armed conflict between Iran and Iraq has aroused serious concern of the international community. 1On July 20th, 987, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 598, demanding an immediate ceasefire between Iran and Iraq. Iraq responded the next day, welcoming the Security Council's resolution and deciding to suspend its attacks on Iranian maritime targets. Iran has neither accepted nor opposed it. 1988 July 18, Iran unexpectedly announced its acceptance of resolution 598. Just a few days ago, it declared that it would fight a protracted war. On August 25th, under the auspices of UN Secretary-General De Cuellar, the foreign ministers of Iran and Iraq finally sat together to negotiate for the final end of the war. As a result, they agreed to stop the war. However, the two sides have great differences on border demarcation, war responsibility, compensation and exchange of prisoners of war. At this point, the eight-year Iran-Iraq war ended.

The Iran-Iraq war is the longest war in the Middle East and Persian Gulf since the Second World War. The two sides fought a bloody battle for 8 years, and both sides lost, and both sides paid a heavy price. The number of casualties in the two countries is about 1 10,000, and the number of casualties alone greatly exceeds the sum of casualties in all previous Arab-Israeli wars since 1.948. During the eight-year war, the military expenditure of Iran and Iraq exceeded 200 billion US dollars, and other economic losses were immeasurable. Such a high consumption of the Iran-Iraq war is rare in local wars after World War II.

1The "attack on ships" that began in May 1984 not only caused huge losses to both sides, but also caused tension in the whole Gulf region, which led to a large increase in foreign military forces in the Gulf region. This is the largest gathering of foreign military forces in the Gulf region since World War II.

During the Iran-Iraq war, the two sides used a large number of modern high-tech weapons and equipment. The United States, the former Soviet Union and France sold some new equipment to the warring parties, which provided a lot of operational data for the United States and other western countries and provided important experience for the countries concerned to develop and equip similar weapons.