Iraqi invasion of Iran

Iraqi invasion of Iran
Part of the Iran–Iraq War
Iranian soldiers fighting in the First Battle of Khorramshahr (September–November 1980)
Date 22 September 1980 – 5 December 1980 (2 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location Western Iran Result Iraqi short-term operational success Beginning of the Iran–Iraq War Territorial changes Iraq seizes more than 25,900 km2 (10,000 sq mi) of Iranian territory by 5 December[4]
Belligerents
Iran	Iraq  Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan[1][2][3]
Commanders and leaders
Joint chief of military staff) Qasem-Ali Zahirnejad (Joint chief of military staff) Mohsen Rezaee (Revolutionary Guards Commander)	Adnan Khairallah (Minister of Defence) Saddam Kamel (Republican Guard Commander)
Units involved
Iranian Armed Forces Army Ground Force Air Force Navy Air Defence Army Aviation Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) Gendarmerie Shahrbani Basij Irregular Warfare Headquarters	Iraqi Armed Forces Army Navy Air Force Republican Guard Popular Army National Defense Battalions
Strength
At the onset of the war:[5] 110,000–150,000 soldiers, 1,700–2,100 tanks,[6] (500 operable)[7] 1,000 armoured vehicles, 300 operable artillery pieces,[8] 485 fighter-bombers (205 fully operational),[9] 750 helicopters	At the onset of the war:[10] 200,000 soldiers, 2,800 tanks, 4,000 APCs, 1,400 artillery pieces, 380 fighter-bombers, 350 helicopters
Casualties and losses
4,500 killed[11] 12,000 wounded Equipment: 250 tanks 150 armored vehicles 60 helicopters[a] 30 fighter-bombers[b]	4,000 killed[11] 10,000 wounded Equipment: 450 tanks 350 armored vehicles 80 fighter-bombers[c] 40 helicopters[d]

The Iraqi invasion of Iran began on 22 September 1980, sparking the Iran–Iraq War, and lasted until 5 December 1980. Iraq attacked under the impression that Iran would not be able to respond effectively due to internal socio-political turmoil caused by the country's Islamic Revolution one year earlier. However, Iraqi troops became increasingly bogged down in the face of fierce Iranian resistance, which greatly stalled their advance into western Iran. In just over two months, the invasion was brought to a halt, but not before Iraq had managed to occupy more than 25,900 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Iranian territory.^[4]

On 10 September 1980, Iraq, hoping to take advantage of a weakened Iran's consolidation of the Islamic Revolution, forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saïf Saad; these had been promised to Iraq under the terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement, but were never actually transferred. Both Iran and Iraq later declared the treaty as null and void, doing so on 14 September and 17 September, respectively. As a result, the only outstanding dispute along the Iran–Iraq border at the time of the Iraqi invasion on 22 September was the question of whether Iranian ships would fly Iraqi flags and pay navigation fees to Iraq while sailing through a stretch of the Shatt al-Arab^[e] spanning several kilometres.^[12][13] On 22 September, Iraqi aircraft pre-emptively bombarded ten Iranian airfields in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to gain aerial superiority on the battlefield. On the next day, Iraqi troops crossed the international border in strength and advanced into Iran in three simultaneous thrusts along a front of approximately 644 kilometres (400 mi). Of Iraq's six divisions that were invading by land, four were sent to Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan in order to cut off Iranian access to the Shatt al-Arab and establish a territorial security zone.^[14]

Iraqi president Saddam Hussein presented the invasion as a strategically defensive measure to blunt the edge of Iranian politician Ruhollah Khomeini, who had risen to power as Iran's "Supreme Leader" and was attempting to export the Islamic Revolution to the Arab world. Saddam, as a secularist and an Arab nationalist, perceived Iran's Shia Islamism and Persian identity as an immediate and existential threat to his Ba'ath Party and thereby to Iraqi society as a whole.^[15] The Iraqi government sought to take control of the entire Shatt al-Arab in a rapid and decisive military campaign, believing that Iraq's victory in the broader conflict would humiliate Iran and lead to Khomeini's downfall, or, at the very least, thwart the new Iranian government's attempts to spread Khomeinism throughout the Muslim world.^{[16][17][18][19]} Saddam had also aspired to annex Khuzestan and saw the Islamic Revolution as an opportunity to do so, seeking to increase his country's prestige and power in the Arab world.^[19][20] To this end, his administration hoped that Iraq, as an Arab-majority country, could successfully exploit Arab separatism in Khuzestan to undermine Iran from within. In practice, these objectives failed to materialize and the majority of Iranian Arabs were indifferent to the pan-Arabism espoused by Iraq's Ba'athists.^[16]

Background

Territorial disputes

Saddam's primary interest in war may have stemmed from his desire to right the supposed "wrong" of the Algiers Agreement, in addition to finally achieving his desire of annexing Khuzestan and becoming the regional superpower.^[21] Saddam's goal was to replace Egypt as the "leader of the Arab world" and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf.^[22] He saw Iran's increased weakness due to revolution, sanctions, and international isolation.^[23] Saddam had invested heavily in Iraq's military since his defeat against Iran in 1975, buying large amounts of weaponry from the Soviet Union and France. Between 1973 and 1980 alone, Iraq purchased an estimated 1,600 tanks and APCs and over 200 Soviet-made aircraft.^[24] By 1980, Iraq possessed 242,000 soldiers (second only to Egypt in the Arab world),^[25] 2,350 tanks^[26] and 340 combat aircraft.^[27] Watching the powerful Iranian army that frustrated him in 1974–1975 disintegrate, he saw an opportunity to attack, using the threat of Islamic Revolution as a pretext.^[28]

Oil and Iran's Islamic Revolution

A successful invasion of Iran would enlarge Iraq's petroleum reserves and make Iraq the region's dominant power. With Iran engulfed in chaos, an opportunity for Iraq to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province materialized.

In 1979–1980, Iraq was the beneficiary of an oil boom that saw it take in US$33 billion, which allowed the government to invest heavily in both civilian and military projects.^[16] On several occasions, Saddam alluded to the Muslim conquest of Persia while promoting his country's position against Iran in the context of a looming war.^[32][33] On 2 April 1980, during a visit to al-Mustansiriya University in the city of Baghdad, he drew parallels to the 7th-century Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, in which the Rashidun Caliphate secured a decisive victory over the Sasanian Empire:

In your name, brothers, and on behalf of the Iraqis and Arabs everywhere, we tell those Persian cowards and dwarfs who try to avenge al-Qadisiyah that the spirit of al-Qadisiyah as well as the blood and honor of the people of al-Qadisiyah who carried the message on their spearheads are greater than their attempts.^[34][35][36]

Revolts by Iraq's Shia Muslims

In 1979–1980, anti-Ba'ath riots arose in the Iraq's Shia areas by groups who were working toward an Islamic revolution in their country.

In April 1980, in response to the Ba'ath Party declaring membership in the Islamic Dawa Party a capital offense at the end of March,^[38] Shia militants assassinated 20 Ba'ath officials, and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was almost assassinated on 1 April;^[16] Aziz survived, but 11 students were killed in the attack.^[21] Three days later, the funeral procession being held to bury the students was bombed.^[15] Iraqi Information Minister Latif Nusseif al-Jasim also barely survived assassination by Shia militants.^[16] In April 1980, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Amina al-Sadr were executed as part of a crackdown to restore Saddam's control. The execution of Iraq's most senior Ayatollah, and "reports that Saddam's secret police had raped al-Sadr's sister in al-Sadr's presence, had set his beard alight, and then dispatched him with a nail gun"^[39] caused outrage throughout the Islamic world, especially among Iraqi Shias.^[16] The Shias' repeated calls for the overthrow of the Ba'ath party and the support they allegedly received from Iran's new government led Saddam to increasingly perceive Iran as a threat that, if ignored, might one day overthrow him;^[16] he thus used the attacks as pretext for attacking Iran that September,^[15] though skirmishes along the Iran–Iraq border had already become a daily event by May that year.^[16] Despite Iran's bellicose rhetoric, Iraqi military intelligence reported in July 1980 that "it is clear that, at present, Iran has no power to launch wide offensive operations against Iraq, or to defend on a large scale."^[40][41] Days before the Iraqi invasion and in the midst of rapidly escalating cross-border skirmishes, Iraqi military intelligence again reiterated on 14 September that "the enemy deployment organization does not indicate hostile intentions and appears to be taking on a more defensive mode."^[42]

Iraq soon after expropriated the properties of 70,000 civilians believed to be of Iranian origin and expelled them from its territory.^[43] Many, if not most, of those expelled were in fact Arabic-speaking Iraqi Shias who had little to no family ties with Iran.^[44] This caused tensions between the two nations to increase further.^[43]

Iraq also helped to instigate riots among Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan province, supporting them in their labor disputes, and turning uprisings into

The frequent and blatant Iranian violations of Iraqi sovereignty...have rendered the 1975 Algiers Agreement null and void... This river [Shatt al-Arab]...must have its Iraqi-Arab identity restored as it was throughout history in name and in reality with all the disposal rights emanating from full sovereignty over the river...We in no way wish to launch war against Iran.[21]

Despite Saddam's claim that Iraq did not want war with Iran, the next day his forces proceeded to attack Iranian border posts in preparation for the planned invasion.

Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The

The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion along a front measuring 644 km (400 mi) in three simultaneous attacks.[16]

Of Iraq's six divisions that were invading by ground, four were sent to Khuzestan, which was located near the border's southern end, to cut off the Shatt al-Arab from the rest of Iran and to establish a territorial security zone.^[16]: 22 The other two divisions invaded across the northern and central part of the border to prevent an Iranian counter-attack.^[16]

Northern front

On the northern front, the Iraqis attempted to establish a strong defensive position opposite Sulaymaniyah to protect the Iraqi Kirkuk oil complex.^[16]: 23

Central front

On the central front, the Iraqis occupied

Two of the four Iraqi divisions which invaded Khuzestan, one

On 22 September, a prolonged battle began in the city of Khorramshahr, eventually leaving 7,000 dead on each side.^[16] Reflecting the bloody nature of the struggle, Iranians came to call Khorramshahr "City of Blood" (خونین شهر, Khunin shahr).^[16]

The battle began with Iraqi air raids against key points and mechanised divisions advancing on the city in a crescent-like formation. They were slowed by Iranian air attacks and Revolutionary Guard troops with

Retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq

Though the Iraqi air invasion surprised the Iranians, the Iranian air force retaliated with an attack against Iraqi military bases and infrastructure in

By 1 October, Baghdad had been subjected to eight air attacks.[16]^: 29 In response, Iraq launched aerial strikes against Iranian targets.^[16][57]

Aftermath

Iraqi strategic failure

The people of Iran, rather than turning against their still-weak Islamic Republic, rallied around their country. An estimated 200,000 fresh troops had arrived at the front by November, many of them ideologically committed volunteers.^[52]

Though Khorramshahr was finally captured, the battle had delayed the Iraqis enough to allow the large-scale deployment of the Iranian military.^[16] In November, Saddam ordered his forces to advance towards Dezful and Ahvaz, and lay siege to both cities. However, the Iraqi offensive had been badly damaged by Iranian militias and air power. Iran's air force had destroyed Iraq's army supply depots and fuel supplies, and was strangling the country through an aerial siege.^[57] On the other hand, Iran's supplies had not been exhausted, despite sanctions, and the military often cannibalised spare parts from other equipment and began searching for parts on the black market. On 28 November, Iran launched Operation Morvarid (Pearl), a combined air and sea attack that destroyed 80% of Iraq's navy and all of its radar sites in the southern portion of the country. When Iraq laid siege to Abadan and dug its troops in around the city, it was unable to blockade the port, which allowed Iran to resupply Abadan by sea.^[60]

Iranian counteroffensive

Iraq's strategic reserves had been depleted, and by now it lacked the power to go on any major offensives until nearly the end of the war.^[16] On 7 December, Hussein announced that Iraq was going on the defensive.^[16] By the end of 1980, Iraq had destroyed about 500 Western-built Iranian tanks and captured 100 others.^[61][62]

See also

• Shatt al-Arab dispute

Gallery

Notes