Iran-Iraq War 1980-8

Iraq launched land and air invasions on Western Iran, starting the Iran-Iraq War which caused a loss of stability
Some argue that Saddam Hussein had started the war, but some could see his attack as a strike before Khomeini took action from Iran

Territorial disputes

Iran and Iraq shared a border with a length of 1,400km and caused a lot of rival claims over territory. This mainly happened for

The Shatt al-Arab waterway is a waterway is formed between the connection of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, joining Iraqi city Basra and Iranian cities Abadan and Khorramshar to the Persian Gulf
This made the area important for oil exports, especially for Iraq which only had that waterway to access the sea
The specific location of the border had been challenged along the southern stretch of the river since the 16th century
The resolution of this conflict was a treaty which favoured Iraq, setting the boundary so that the waterway was included in Iraqi territory
The Treaty was active up until 1969 when the Shah did not agree with the treaty and did not pay shipping tolls to the Iraqis (fee paid for using the waterway for shipping)
On the other hand, Khuzestan which lay in south-west Iran was rich with oil and populated with mostly Arab non-Persians that had cultural connections with Iraq
Saddam used these cultural connections to claim Khuzestan as Iraqi territory and told the Arabs in Khuzestan to protest against the Shah
Iran told Kurds in north Iraq to fight against Saddam with weapons, providing them with training bases and weapons

Saddam realised that a war with Iran (which had the fifth largest army in the world) in early 1970s would lead to defeat
Iraq had lost small battles and Saddam withdrew with the signing of Algiers Agreement of 1975
Iran stopped supporting the Kurdish people fighting to separate themselves from the rest of Iraq on the condition that Iraq stopped the conflict to claim Khuzestan
This improved Iraq-Iran relations
Saddam saw this as a loss, and renounced the agreement in September 1980 to reclaim Khuzestan

Domination of the Gulf

The Iran-Iraq War fought for dominance over the Middle East, a conflict that had continued throughout history between Persians and Arabs and started as early as Mesopotamia and Persia
In the 1970s, Iran (modern-day Persia) and Iraq (modern-day Mesopotamia) were the two main countries that had the potential to take power over the Middle East
Saddam Hussein wanted to increase its own oil reserves by taking away from Iran by claiming Khuzestan and taking back control over Shatt al-Arab, which would shift the power balance between the two countries towards Iraq's side
He also wanted to have power over Arab countries after Egypt was expelled from the Arab League (an organisation to benefit Arab countries) in 1979 after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel

Opportunity from the Islamic Revolution for Iraq

In 1975, Iran was much more powerful than Iraq, which was proven when Saddam retreated from violence and turned to negotiations in the Algiers Agreement
The Islamic Revolution in 1979 allowed Saddam to take action during this temporary weakening of Iran
After the Shah was overthrown, the USA no longer had an alliance with Iran, and also no longer had supplies to parts of tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery from the USA
The Islamic Revolution led to the removal of those in the higher ranks of the Iranian army
Saddam saw this as a chance to defeat Iran in its temporary state, where it was unstable, did not have significant alliances, and was losing the higher ranked military officers
Action had to be immediate, as any time wasted would lead to recovery time for Iran
However, it turned out that Saddam had underestimated Iran and Iraq's success at the start of the war quickly turned into failures later on

Ayatollah Kohmeini's fight against Saddam Hussein

After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, religious tension, as Iran was a Shiite Muslim state and Iraq was led by Sunni Muslims, even though it made up less than 20% of the population in Iraq
Ayatollah opposed Saddam because of these religious differences, and also because he was expelled from Iraq during his exile in 1977
Khomeini encouraged the Shiite Muslims in Iraq to overthrow Saddam's regime and establish an Islamic republic in Iraq
The Shiite protested in 1979-80 against the government with some plotting assassination against government officials
Saddam was sure that Khomeini was trying to remove his government, and he wanted to protect Iraq by striking Iran first

Western involvement in the Iran-Iraq War

Western countries participated in the war for the purpose of maintaining a stable supply of oil resources from the Middle East through protecting the balance of power
The USA did not have strong support for one side in particular, but preferred Saddam in Iraq over Khomeini in Iran
This was because if Iran succeeded to set up an Islamic government in Iraq, the rest of the Middle East would be threatened by the dominant Islamic power, causing instability and less purpose for the West
Therefore, the USA wanted to make sure that Iraq did not lose the war, and sent weapons, intelligence (people to collect military information from the enemy) and funds
Britain, France, and West Germany supplied military supplies to Iraq
America was more involved during the "War of the Tankers" from May 1985, where US warships attacked Iranian gunboats and oil installations (facilities to extract oil), attempting to damage Iran's trade
Iraq's side (backed by the West) had more tanks, fighter aircraft, helicopters, and artillery than Iraq, and Khomeini agreed to a ceasefire as Iraq had more military supplies

Consequences of the war

The war ended in a tie. Territory was not changed, and both sides were not able to achieve their agendas
Long-term foreign relationships were not established, and the Western powers even switched sides to fight against Saddam in the First Gulf War
A lot of damage had been dealt, with Iran losing 1 out of 50 million people, and Iraq losing a quarter to half a million lives out of their population of 17 million
Around 2% of the population of each country were killed, and many people were injured physically and psychologically as well
Even though Iraq had became extremely wealthy in the past years, it soon became bankrupt and in debt, owing $80 billion to other countries, and only earning around $11 billion dollars from oil revenues per year (meaning it had decreased by more than half of its original revenue)
Spendings in infrastructure (eg. housing, schools, hospitals) were decreased, causing a fall in living standards
Even though there was no real victory, Saddam insisted that Iraq had won the war as it had stopped the establishment of an Islamic government in Iran
Saddam secretly realised that the people of Iraq would not just be satisfied with his cult of personality and monuments, but instead that he needed to revive the economy of Iraq