Iran–Iraq relations
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Iran |
Iraq |
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Iran–Iraq relations (
.Both states have history that extends for
Modern relations between the two nations turned increasingly negative following the
The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the eventual rise to power by pro-Iranian Shia factions (i.e.
Iran has an
History
Antiquity
Akkadian Empire
Sumerian Empire
The
]During King Shulgi's reign, many significant changes occurred. He took steps to centralize and standardize the procedures of the empire. He is credited with standardizing administrative processes, archival documentation, the tax system, and the national calendar.[citation needed]
The last
Assyrian Empire
The
In 647 BC, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal leveled the Elamite capital city of Susa during a war in which the inhabitants apparently participated on an opposing side. A tablet unearthed in 1854 by Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh reveals Ashurbanipal as an "avenger", seeking retribution for the humiliations the Elamites had inflicted on the Mesopotamians over the centuries.
Assyrian rule succumbed to Babylonia with the Fall of Nineveh in 612 BC.
Babylonian Empire
In the golden age of Babylon, Nabopolassar was intent on conquering from the pharaoh Necho II (who was still hoping to restore Assyrian power) the western provinces of Syria, and to this end dispatched his son Nebuchadnezzar II with a powerful army westward. In the ensuing Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, the Egyptian army was defeated and driven back, and Syria and Phoenicia were brought under the sway of Babylon. Nabopolassar died in August of that year, and Nebuchadrezzar II returned home to Babylon to ascend to the throne.
After the defeat of the
Though
Achaemenid Iranian Empire
In 539 BC, Persian forces led by Cyrus The Great defeated Babylonian forces at the Battle of Opis, east of the Tigris. Cyrus entered Babylon and presented himself as a traditional Mesopotamian monarch, restoring temples and releasing political prisoners.[8] Upon assuming power, Cyrus appointed provincial governors (the predecessors of the Persian satraps), and he required from his subjects only tribute and obedience. Following Cyrus's death, a brief period of Babylonian unrest ensued that climaxed in 522 B.C. with a general rebellion of Iranian colonies.
Of the four residences of the Achaemenids named by Herodotus—Ecbatana, Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon—the last [situated in Iraq] was maintained as their most important capital, the fixed winter quarters, the central office of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer for some cool spot in the highlands.[9] Under the
Sassanian double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[9]— Iranologist Ehsan Yarshater, The Cambridge History of Iran,[9]
Between 520 and 485 BC, the Iranian leader, Darius the Great, reimposed political stability in Babylon and ushered in a period of great economic prosperity. His greatest achievements were in road building, which significantly improved communication among the provinces, and in organizing an efficient bureaucracy. Darius's death in 485 B.C. was followed by a period of decay that led to a major Babylonian rebellion in 482 B.C. The Iranians violently quelled the uprising, and the repression that followed severely damaged Babylon's economic infrastructure.
The first Iranian kings to rule Iraq followed Mesopotamian land-management practices conscientiously. Between 485 B.C. and the conquest by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., however, very little in Babylon was repaired and few of its once-great cities remained intact. Trade also was greatly reduced during this period. The established trade route from Sardis to Susa did not traverse Babylonia, and the Iranian rulers, themselves much closer to the Orient, were able to monopolize trade from India and other eastern points. As a result, Babylonia and Assyria, which together formed the ninth satrapy of the Persian Empire, became economically isolated and impoverished. Their poverty was exacerbated by the extremely high taxes levied on them: they owed the Iranian crown 1,000 talents of silver a year, in addition to having to meet the extortionate demands of the local administrators, and they were responsible for feeding the Iranian court for four months every year.[citation needed]
Seleucid Empire
By the fourth century B.C., nearly all of Babylon opposed the Achaemenids. Thus, when the Iranian forces stationed in Babylon surrendered to Alexander in 331 B.C. all of Babylonia hailed him as a liberator. Alexander quickly won Babylonian favor when, unlike the Achaemenids, he displayed respect for such Babylonian traditions as the worship of their chief god, Marduk. Alexander also proposed ambitious schemes for Babylon. He planned to establish one of the two seats of his empire there and to make the Euphrates navigable all the way to the Persian Gulf, where he planned to build a great port. Alexander's grandiose plans, however, never came to fruition. Returning from an expedition to the Indus River, he died in Babylon; most probably from malaria contracted there in 323 B.C. at the age of 32. In the politically chaotic period after Alexander's death, his generals fought for and divided up his empire.[citation needed]
Parthian Empire
In 126 B.C., the Parthians, a nomadic Iranian people led by the Arsacid Dynasty, captured the Tigris–Euphrates river valley. The Parthians were able to control all trade between the East and the Greco–Roman world. For the most part, they chose to retain existing social institutions and to live in cities that already existed. Mesopotamia was immeasurably enriched by this, the mildest of all foreign occupations of the region. The population of Mesopotamia was enormously enlarged, Iranians, and
Sassanid Iranian Empire
During the time of the
According to
Sassanian documents, Persians distinguished two kinds of land within their empire: [the heartlands] "Īrān", and [the colonies] "Anīrān" ("non-Īrān"). Iraq was considered to be part of Īrān [the heartlands].[11]As Wilhelm Eilers observes: "For the Sassanians, too [as it was for the Parthians], the lowlands of Iraq constituted the heart of their dominions". This shows that Iraq was not simply part of the Persian Empire—it was the heart of Persia.[11]
Medieval era
Abbasid Caliphate
The
Abbasid Iraq eventually became part of Buyid Iran as the Buyid Emirate of Baghdad. After the Seljuk invasion, the Abbasid Caliphate regained a degree of independence. During the reign of Caliph Al-Nasir, Abbasid Iraq expanded into Iran.
Late Middle Ages
Iran and Iraq both fell to the Mongols during the 13th century. In the 14th century, there emerged the Mongol Jalayirid sultanate which controlled Iraq and parts of Iran. They were later displaced by the Timurids, Qara Qoyunlu, and then the Aq Qoyunlu of Iran, however the area centered around Basra was always locally dominated by semi-autonomous Arab tribes like the Al-Mughamis, Musha'sha', and Muntafiq. Under them, the Emirate of Basra in southern Iraq often challenged the dynasties of Iran, until the Safavids subdued Basra in the early 16th century.[13]
Early modern era
Despite decades of Iranian suzerainty, the Muntafiq remained autonomous and allied with the Ottomans and Portuguese. Iran briefly reoccupied Muntafiq Iraq between 1623 and 1639. By 1667, the Afrasiyab dynasty became co-rulers of southern Iraq with the Muntafiq while Ottoman suzerainty was disrespected. In 1667 the pasha of southern Iraq offered to submit to Iran, but the Safavids had no wish to antagonize the Ottomans.[14] Similarly, the Iranians suppressed a Muntafiq revolt against Ottoman suzerainty in 1697, and returned Basra to the Ottomans in 1701.[14] Nonetheless, Iraq was always a place of great importance to Iranians because of the abundant Shia shrines.
In the early 18th century, Iraq became unified under the Mamluks, and they assisted the Ottomans with their invasion of Iran in the 1720s. In turn, the Iranians invaded Iraq three times between 1730 and 1776, they failed to capture Mosul and only briefly occupied Basra after a long siege.[15][16] Both countries had conflicting interests over the Kurdish emirates. In 1802, the Shah of Iran, Fath Ali Shah, criticized the Mamluk governor of Iraq for his inability to counter the anti-Shia Wahhabis. Iran and Iraq invaded each other again during the 1820s,[17] before the Ottomans ended Iraqi autonomy in 1831.[citation needed]
Modern era
Pahlavi era
Since the Ottoman–Persian Wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Iran (known as "Persia" prior to 1935) and the Ottomans fought over Iraq (then known as Mesopotamia) and full control of the Shatt al-Arab until the signing of the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 which established the final borders between the two countries.[18]: 4 The Shatt al-Arab was considered an important channel for both states' oil exports, and in 1937, Iran and the newly independent Iraq signed a treaty to settle the dispute. In the same year, Iran and Iraq both joined the Treaty of Saadabad, and relations between the two states remained good for decades afterwards.[19]
The 1937 treaty recognised the Iran–Iraq border to be along the low-water mark on the Shatt al-Arab's eastern side, except at
In 1955, both nations joined the
Iraq showed reluctance in fulfilling existing agreements with Iran—especially after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's death in 1970 and the Iraqi Ba'ath Party's rise which took power in a 1968 coup, leading Iraq to take on the self-appointed role of "leader of the Arab world". At the same time, by the late 1960s, the build-up of Iranian power under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had gone on a military spending spree, led Iran to take a more assertive stance in the region.[19]
In April 1969, Iran
Iran's abrogation of the treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the 1975 Algiers Agreement.[19] In 1969, Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deputy prime minister, stated: "Iraq's dispute with Iran is in connection with Khuzestan, which is part of Iraq's soil and was annexed to Iran during foreign rule."[21] Soon, Iraqi radio stations began exclusively broadcasting into "Arabistan", encouraging Arabs living in Iran and even Baloch people to revolt against the Shah's government.[21] Basra TV stations began showing Iran's Khuzestan province as part of Iraq's new province of "Nāṣiriyyah" (ناصرية), renaming all of its cities with Arabic names.
In 1971, Iraq (now under Saddam's effective rule) broke diplomatic relations with Iran after claiming sovereignty rights over the islands of
In the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Iraq made territorial concessions—including the Shatt al-Arab waterway—in exchange for normalised relations.[19] In return for Iraq recognising that the frontier on the waterway ran along the entire thalweg, Iran ended its support of Iraq's Kurdish guerrillas.[19] Iraqis viewed the Algiers Agreement as humiliating.[19][25]: 260 However, the agreement meant the end of Iranian and American support for the Peshmerga, who were defeated by Iraq's government in a short campaign that claimed 20,000 lives.[25]: 298 The British journalist Patrick Brogan wrote that "the Iraqis celebrated their victory in the usual manner, by executing as many of the rebels as they could lay their hands on."[25]: 298
The relationship between the governments of Iran and Iraq briefly improved in 1978, when Iranian agents in Iraq discovered plans for a pro-Soviet coup d'état against Iraq's government. When informed of this plot, Saddam ordered the execution of dozens of his army's officers and in a sign of reconciliation, expelled Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled leader of clerical opposition to the Shah, from Iraq. Despite this, Saddam merely considered the Algiers Agreement to be a truce, rather than a definite settlement, and waited for an opportunity to contest it.[24][26]
According to
Iraq, supported by other Arab states, resisted Iranian influence under the Shah in the 1970s (which was backed by the
In 1975, Iran and Iraq signed a demarcation agreement stemming from the Kurdish rebellion, which remained in stalemate.[29][27]
Iran–Iraq War
The Iranian Revolution in 1979 drastically changed Iran–Iraq relations for 24 years.
War broke out between Iraq and Iran in September 1980. During the war, Iraq used chemical weapons and violence against Iraqi Kurds and Marsh Arabs, who were accused of colluding with Iran.[30] Eight years of fighting left around 600,000 dead and caused huge disasters for both sides, thereby grimly blistering ties between Tehran and Baghdad. The United Nations (UN) issued Resolution 598 in July 1987, demanding an unconditional ceasefire between the two nations. Both nations adopted the resolution ending the war in August 1988.
Post-war reconciliation
Although Iran condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the former enemies reestablished diplomatic relations in October 1990; one month later, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati visited Baghdad.[citation needed]
In January 2002, one year before the U.S.-led Iraq War, the bilateral relations improved significantly when an Iranian delegation led by Amir Hussein Zamani visited Iraq for final negotiations to resolve the conflict through talks on issues of prisoners of war and the missing in action.[31]
Post-Saddam
After the US-led war on Iraq started in 2003, Tehran strongly opposed the invasion, calling for a key role of the UN in Iraq's reconstruction. Iran then offered assistance to Iraq's post-war reconstruction and bilateral relations began to improve. In May 2005, a transitional government led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari of the pro-Iran Islamist Dawa party was established in Iraq. In mid May, Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi visited Iraq and Jaafari paid a visit to Iran in July. In November, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani visited Iran, becoming the first Iraqi head of state to visit Iran in almost four decades.
Iran–Iraq relations have flourished since 2005 by the exchange of high level visits: Former Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki makes frequent visits, along with Jalal Talabani visiting numerous times, to help boost bilateral cooperation in all fields. A conflict occurred in December 2009, when Iraq accused Iran of seizing an oil well on the border.[32]
On April 24, 2011, Iran and Iraq signed an extradition accord. The high-level meeting by the justice ministers of both countries in Tehran followed in the aftermath of a raid by Iraqi forces on
Iran has taken an increasingly salient role within the Iraqi government and security forces since the United States originally withdrew and ISIS rose to power. In Basra alone, there are numerous stories of Iranian militant factions harassing and kidnapping civilians.[3] On September 7, 2018, several months of protest and arson erupted into an attack against the Iranian consulate within Iraq, where it was set ablaze by rocket fire.[4]
On 9 April 2019, a day after the United States placed Iran's
In August 2019, Iran seized an Iraqi oil tanker in the Gulf and detained seven sailors for "smuggling fuel for some Arab countries". Iraq denied any connection with the vessel and claimed to investigate the matter.[35] A 2019 article by the
On 27 November 2019, Iraqi protesters burned down the Iranian consulate in Najaf.[37][38]
In April 2022, Iraq and Iran secured an agreement to resume Iranian gas deliveries to Iraq in exchange for Baghdad repaying debts owed to Tehran.[39]
On June 26, 2022, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said in Tehran, a day after traveling to Saudi Arabia in an effort to resurrect negotiations between the regional adversaries to end years of antagonism, that Iran and Iraq had agreed to work toward Middle East stability.[40]
On March 19, 2023, Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani and Iraq's National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji signed a border security agreement to not allow armed groups in the Iraqi Kurdish region to launch border-crossing attacks on Iran. The arrangement was prompted by a missile attack from Iran's Revolutionary Guards against Iranian Kurdish groups.[41]
Commerce
Iran plays an important role in the
The volume of trade between Iran and Iraq reached $12 billion in 2013.[43] The main areas of trade between the two countries are the construction, food and industrial sectors.
See also
- Arab–Iran relations
- Iraqis in Iran
- Shia crescent
References
- ^ ISBN 9783643800497.) functioned for more than 800 years as the capital city of Iran.
During the time of the Sasanids, Iran's last dynasty before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, the major part of Iraq was called in Persian Del-i Īrānshahr (lit. 'heart of Iran'), and its metropolis Ctesiphon (not far from present-day Baghdad
- ISSN 1029-0990.
- ^ a b El-Ghobashy, Tamer (September 7, 2018). "Chanting 'Iran, out!' Iraqi protesters torch Iranian Consulate in Basra". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b Genin, Aaron (October 10, 2018). "Iraqis Burn Iranian Consulate". The California Review.
- from the original on 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
- from the original on 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
- ^ Hirad Dinavari. "More alike than different". The Iranian. Archived from the original on 2012-06-02. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
The cultural give and take influenced many things, some of which are the cuneiform writing and the building of ziggurats which the later Assyrians and the Achaemenid (Hakhamaneshi) Persians inherited. The Assyrians influenced the cultures of Media and Urartu, and the influence of Elam lived on among the Medes and Persians. The various Iranian speaking peoples who had been migrating into what is now the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia were heavily influenced by the aboriginal Elamites and the Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians. This difference can be most noticed when one compares other Iranian speaking peoples who lived in Eurasia like the Scythians and Sarmatians whose culture was very different with that of Iranian tribes who settled in the Iranian Plateau. So from that far back, Iran (the geographic location) has been multi-ethnic.
- ^ "The Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.)". Archived from the original on 2011-08-29. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
- ^ Sassanian double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
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Iraq with its capital of Ctesiphon was called by the Sasanian kings the 'heart of Iranshahr,' the land of Iran... The ruler spent most of the year in this capital, only moving to the cities of the highlands of Iran for the Summer.
- ^ ISBN 9780791440612.
- ^ "The Abbasid Caliphate, 750-1258". Archived from the original on 2009-11-04. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
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- ^ a b "IRAQ iv. RELATIONS IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD".
- ^ Axworthy, Michael, "The Sword of Persia; Nader Shah, from Tribal Warrior to Conquering Tyrant", I B Tauris, 2009.
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- ^ Ward, Steven (2009). Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 76.
- ^ "The Origin and Development of Imperialist Contention in Iran; 1884–1921". History of Iran. Iran Chamber Society. Archived from the original on 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
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- ^ Mirfendereski, Guive (2005). "Tonb (Greater and Lesser)". Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 2015-07-04. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
- ^ a b Ranard, Donald A. (ed.). "History". Iraqis and Their Culture. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78096-221-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-7475-0260-9.
- ^ "Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988". History of Iran. Iran Chamber Society. Archived from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
- ^ ISBN 978-1601270771. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ Milani, Mohsen. "Iraq (part 6: Pahlavi Period, 1921-79)". Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. XIII. pp. 564–572. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
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- ^ Human Rights Watch, GENOCIDE IN IRAQ: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds (1993) Annex C https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ Archived 2010-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Iranian Delegation in Iraq for Talks on POWs, MIAs" Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, People's Daily Online, Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ^ Muhanad Mohammed (19 December 2012). "Iran, Iraq seek diplomatic end to border dispute". Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ "Iran, Iraq sign extradition accord" Reuters World News. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
- ^ "Iraq Says It Is Concerned About Designation Of Guards As 'Terrorist'". Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
- ^ "Iran 'seizes Iraqi tanker in Gulf for smuggling fuel'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
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- ^ "Iraqi PM in Iran after Saudi visit to push for revival of Tehran-Riyadh talks". Reuters. Reuters. Reuters. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ^ Rasheed, Ahmed (19 March 2023). "Iraq and Iran sign deal to tighten border security". Reuters.
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Further reading
- Abdulghani, Jasim M. Iraq and Iran (Routledge, 2011) online.
- Chubin, Shahram, and Charles Tripp. Iran and Iraq at War (Routledge, 2020) online review
- Ehsani, Kaveh. "War and Resentment: Critical Reflections on the Legacies of the Iran-Iraq War." in Debating the Iran-Iraq War in Contemporary Iran (Routledge, 2019) pp. 3-22. online
- Karsh, Efraim. "Geopolitical determinism: The origins of the Iran-Iraq war." Middle East Journal 44.2 (1990): 256-268. online
- Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin (2014). The Iran–Iraq War: A Military and Strategic History. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 877852628.
- Nelson, Chad E. (2018). "Revolution and War: Saddam's Decision to Invade Iran". Middle East Journal. 72 (2): 246–66. S2CID 149704506.
- Potter, Lawrence, and Gary Sick, eds. Iran, Iraq, and the legacies of war (Springer, 2004).
- Razoux, Pierre; Elliott, Nicholas (2015). The Iran–Iraq War. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. OCLC 907204345.
- Swearingen, Will D. "Geopolitical origins of the Iran-Iraq war." Geographical Review (1988): 405-416. online
- Takeyh, Ray. "The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment." Middle East Journal 64.3 (2010): 365-383.
- Woods, Kevin M., et al. Saddam's War: An Iraqi Mililtary Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009) online.
External links
- Abdulghani, Jasim M. (1984). Iraq & Iran: The Years of Crisis. ISBN 9780709905509.