Running head: IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 1

Iran and Iraq relations from Saddam till now

Mehak Rafique
Section B
International Relations.

IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 2

Abstract
Ties between the two states were not that calm and steady because of various issues. There were
disputes over some waterways and oilfields throughout the years.. The Iraqi government had
always feared that the Shia Muslims residing in the state were being influenced by the Muslims
in Iran, and especially after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Saddam Hussain feared even more. It
was in 1980 that the siries of war had started between iran and Iraq and there were casualties that
were more than half a million
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 3

Relationship between Iran and Iraq were hostile during the last few decades; however they had
improved significantly after Saddam Hussains era. The conflict between the two countries was
because of various reasons such as religion most importantly, border and territory, military
disputes and so forth.
In 1979 there was an Islamic revolution in Iran which seemed to be threat as well as an
opportunity for Saddam Hussain in Iraq. This was because the down fall of Shah seemed to be
favorable for Saddam regarding the relations of Iran and Iraq. After the downfall of Shah, Iran
was now in a weaker position as Iraq was now able to exercise it hard power over Iran to win
back the claims to the leadership of the Arab world. Moreover the activist Shia-islam preached
by the revolutionist in Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini had threatened to upset
the already very delicate shia-sunni balance prevailing in Iraq. Khomeini had been expelled from
Iraq by Saddam, back in 1979 at the request of Shah. Saddam and Khomeini had two very
different ideologies.
By shedding some light on the Iraqi history regarding the shia-sunni matter, Shia had
been given not much importance in every walk of life and most importantly they had been denied
from the political power in Iraq. However in the latter half of the Saddams populist rule, the
economic policies had a great impact on the shiates of Iraq. In the year 1979 there was a bomb
suspected and Karbala was sealed by the Iraqi government, at that point of time when the
religious ceremonies related to the pilgrimage were on its heights, so the Shia population in Iraq
held various demonstrations. In these demonstrations there were a number of violent clashes with
the police forces of Iraq, which were spread from Karbala and An Najaf. This outrage continued
for days till the army troops were called in to put back the alarming situation to peace. If the
situation is looked closely, its clear enough that the Shia population was not comfortable with
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 4

the Baath leadership of Saddam as there was an Islamic revolution in Iran. The Baath leadership
of Saddam feared that his Shia population residing in Iraq was being influenced by the Islamic
revolution in Iran. This fear of Saddam rose in around July 1979 when outrageous riots broke out
in An Najaf and Karbala after the Iraqi government had refused to Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir
as Sadr's request to lead a procession to Iran to congratulate Khomeini. What was more alarming
for the Iraqi government to know was that a Shia group was a following a leader that had close
ties to Iran. The group was commonly known by the name of Ad Dawah al Islamiyah which was
lead by Baqir as Sadr. Baqir's ideologies were same as that of Khomeinis which called to
Islamic precept of government and social justice.
The establishment of the Islamic revolution in Iran was not the only reason that played a
major role in the deterioration of the relationship between Iran and Iraq that prevailed since long
ago from the times of the Algiers Agreement in 1975. Despite the hostile relations, the Iraqi
government sent an invitation letter to the first president of Islamic republic of Iran to pay a visit
in Iraq, in order to improve the bilateral relations between Iran and Iraq. The fall of the
government in the 1979s and the rising of Islamic militants preaching the expansionist fiscal
policy was further worsening the iran-iraq relationship.
The relationship further deteriorated in the spring of 1980 when the Iranian-supported group Ad
Dawah took steps to kill the Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz. Shortly after the failed grenade
attack on Tariq Aziz, Ad Dawah was suspected of attempting to assassinate another Iraqi leader,
Minister of Culture and Information Latif Nayyif Jasim (Ahmed H. El Afandi, The Iraq Iran war:
causes and origins of the war). As mentioned above, the conflict between the two countries was
also because of the border and territorial issues; therefore in September 1980 issues erupted
regarding the central sector near the Qasr-e-Shirin. After a few weeks of this event, Saddam
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 5

Hussain had officially abrogated the treaty between Iran and Iraq that took place back in the year
1975 and also announced that he waterway shatt al arab was going to be part of the Iraqi
sovereignty. Iran was against the announcement made by Saddam and therefore this act resulted
in bombing raids between the two countries. By now the war between Iran and Iraq had started
and changed the entire course of the Iraqi history. As there were already complications regarding
the shia-sunni differences, the economic, political and social circumstances had also worsened
due to the events that took place.
People thought that these steps were being taken because it was Saddams personal
interest to invade Iran as Saddam thought that the rise of Islamic revolution in Iran was a threat
to his rule in Iraq and it could also disturb the shia-sunni balance in his country. By November
1980 a brutal war had started by now as Iraq had entered the premises of Iran and both the
countries fought a costly war, and Iraq had captured Khorramshahr and had also won back its
waterway Shatt al Arab, and on surface it seemed like that Baghdad will surely win the war,
however in return Iran also attacked Iraqs northern pipeline and also tried its best that Iraq faces
a financial constraint by running down their oil reserves. Despite of these facts, Iran was not very
successful and organized when it comes to resisting the invasion by Iraq. Iraqs first
counterattack however had failed mainly because of the military and political reasons but
fortunately for Iran, by then the Iraqi government failed at following up another attack (Ahmed
H. El Afandi, The Iraq Iran war: causes and origins of the war). Till the year 1982, there
followed many other fights between the two countries.
By March 1982 Iran had launched its program for its undeniable victory and therefore
entered Iran with its troop, however in return Iraq responded by its withdrawal of the troops and
after that Saddam had announced his willingness to peruse peaceful negotiations with Iran and
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 6

settle the ongoing war. Even after Saddams call to peaceful negotiations, Iran went on to win
back Khorramshahr and in return Saddam ordered his troops to retreat from Iran believing that
Iran will want to put an end to the war. Iran again was able to win back some of its territories
with large number of casualties before Iraq was able to pressurize them with its armed forces.
These fights continued but then in April 1984 Saddam had invited Khomeini for peaceful
negotiations but the Capital city of Iran, Tehran, had refused the offer of peaceful negotiations.
This was the step taken by Saddam to head towards the political and diplomatic spheres.
During these years, around 300,000 irony soldiers and approximately 250,000 Iraqi
troops had been dead in the brutal war of the two countries. None of the two countries had used
its modern military equipments in an efficient way. William O. Staudenmaeir, a seasoned
military analyst, reported that "the land-computing sights on the Iraqi tanks [were] seldom used.
This lowered the accuracy of the T-62 tanks to World War II standards." In addition, both sides
frequently abandoned heavy equipment in the battle zone because they lacked the skilled
technical personnel needed to carry out minor repairs (Ahmed H. El Afandi, The Iraq Iran war:
causes and origins of the war).
From the year 1984 to the year 1987 the series of wars was named as the The war of
Attrition. During these wars, Iran was not able to match the amount of missiles that Iraq had.
Moreover Iraq had used dangerous chemical weapons which had caused around 10,000
casualties in Iran in 1984. The burnt casualties were flown to the European hospitals, however in
the year 1986 The Un secretary general stepped in and accused Iraq of using these chemical
weapons and sent some of his officials to check the sites in Iran which were being affected. Iraq
had refused this major accusation made by the UN secretary general. Nevertheless these wars
continued till Saddam took hold of the situation with a different strategy this time. Saddam and
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 7

his military troops had now adopted an offensive strategy rather than the defensive strategy
that had was being followed.
During this course of wars, both the countries faced problems regarding their economy.
During these wars, Iraqs exports had decreased as many of the neighboring countries had closed
their pipelines which were a major route for the oil markets in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Irans revenue generation had also gown down as their main oil producing fields were affected to
a great extend due to the bombing raids in the northern fields.
By the year 1984, the situation had not been calm; the war was continued. The wars fought in the
period of 1984 to 1987 were famously known as the The Tanker Wars. The continuous tanker
attacks by both countries, the Iranian gulf exports of crude oil had decreased moreover the
London Lloyds had increased the interest rate of the tankers that were being imported. In the
year 1984, both and Iran and Iraq had accepted a suspension of the shelling on the civilians, and
this proposal was supported by the UN. But later on the situation even worsened when Iraq
started to ignore this suspension and still continued with its air raids on the tanker services in
Iran and even dared to attack some of the vessels which belonged to the Arab states of the
Persian Gulf. Kuwaiti vessels were also targeted at times so Kuwait by that time sought
protection from these raids in around 1986.
By in1986 Iranian military troops had the support of super powers and had also captured
the main oil ports of Iraq. As already mentioned above that the two super powers had started
taking a step to end the war, the Soviet deputy foreign minister Vladimir Petrovsky made a
Middle East tour expressing his country's concern over the effects of the Iran-Iraq War. In May
1987, United States assistant secretary of state Richard Murphy also toured the Gulf emphasizing
to friendly Arab states the United States commitment in the region, a commitment which had
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 8

become suspect as a result of Washington's transfer of arms to the Iranians, officially as an
incentive for them to assist in freeing American hostages held in Lebanon. In another diplomatic
effort, both superpowers supported the UN Security Council resolutions seeking an end to the
war (Lessons Learned: Iran-Iraq War, MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL PUBLICATION
FMFRP 3-203 - 10 December 1990)
In the year 1987 both the super powers had been involved in the Iran-Iraq war to a great
extent as both the Soviet and The Us were supplying with military assistance. However the two
super powers were extensively feared by the fact that the war of tankers will intensify even more.
During the extensive period of the war, Iraq was able to produce chemical weapons on their own,
and were also using it and storing the weapons. In response to the attacks made by Iran in the
Baghdadi premises, Iraq was even more boosted than before and continued to attack the Iranian
cities for more than six weeks. The Iraqi attacks caused not much destruction but were successful
in making the tehranian citizens to flee away. This is the reason why Iran had to sign the peace
agreement with Iraq as they feared that there capital city Tehran was under chemical weapon
threats of Iraq.
In the year 1988, almost 4 wars were fought by the two countries and in the fall of that
year Iraq had got hold of all almost half of the artillery pieces and armored personnel, and more
than one three quarters of Iranian armor inventory. The war had continued for almost 8 years,
that is, from 1980 to 1988, whereas the symptoms rose long ago in 1979 onwards. And the issues
that caused the war were still not resolved. The matter still remained the same from where it had
all started. And the number of casualties amounted to more than half a million for both the
countries. However it is assumed that Iraq had won the war militarily and had an advantage of its
military capabilities over the years. At last the UN had put an end to the series of war that had
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 9

been going on for almost a decade, and after that the two countries continued with an arms race
with the other countries. A variety of unresolved humanitarian issues from the Iran-Iraq war
include a failure to identify combatants killed in action and to exchange information on those
killed or missing. Iran agreed to the release of 5,584 Iraqi POW's in April 1998, and news
organizations reported intermittent meetings throughout the remainder of the year between
Iranian and Iraqi government officials toward reaching a final agreement on the remaining
POW's held by each side (Lessons Learned: Iran-Iraq War, MARINE CORPS HISTORICAL
PUBLICATION FMFRP 3-203 - 10 December 1990).
After practicing hard power over Iran, now Iraq is now also practicing soft power over
Iran in various circles- economic, political and religious matters as can be seen from various
facts. The relationship between the countries improved after the downfall of Saddam. He was
considered to be the USs man. However, Iran continues to enjoy close relationships with many
top officials within the current Iraqi government and reciprocal visits by high-level Iranian and
Iraqi officials have accelerated since early 2009 (Marisa Cochrane Sullivan, August 4 2009).
After the long period of war sessions, Iran has had a great influence over Iraqs economy for its
own national interest. However the trade between the two countries again had negative effects as
Iraq flooded in cheaply produced goods in Iraq.
The relationship extended more than trade as many Iranian companies had started
investing heavily in the Iraqi premises. Most importantly Marisa (August 4, 2009)also mentioned
that Iranian government-owned tourism companies, which sponsor pilgrimages to Iraqs holy
cities, choose which Iraqi companies to deal with for the transportation, protection and
accommodation of pilgrims. Over the last few year Iran has come up with plans of building
power plant projects in Iraq, and has also invested in various banks of Iraq.
IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 10

By the year 2000, a number of Shia Muslims poured into Iraq for religious
proposes and it was when the bilateral relations improved between the two. Then in the year
2005, in the month of May, Irans foreign minister paid a ministerial visit to Iraq and the member
of the Ad Dawah in Iraq, also paid a visit to Iran. Then it was in the year 2006 that the prime
minister of Iraq paid a visit to Iraq for the first time. And it was in 2008 that for the first time in
three decades that the president of Iran went to Iraq. But then in the year 2009, again there were
same traces of the hostile relations when there arose some disputes over the oilfields in Iraqs
territory. Recently, back in the year 2011, the leader of the Sadrist movement went back to Iraq
and then it was that the Iraqi government feared the influence of Iraq in their country.
The overall relationship between the two states had been very biter all because of
various reasons which include, religion factor, military power and most importantly the un-
settled disputes over the territories. However it is viewed that the ties between the two states
have never been calm, still they got better after the era of Saddam Hussain.

IRAN AND IRAQ RELATIONS FROM SADDAM TILL NOW 11

References:

Ahmed H. Al Afandi. The Iran Iraq war: causes and Origins of the war, from
http://course1.winona.edu/aelafandi/polsci270/iran-iraq-war.htm
Francis V. Xavier . Iran and Iraq : a prediction for future conflict, from
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm
Lionel Beehner and Greg Bruno. (2008, March 3). Irans involvement in Iraq, from
http://www.cfr.org/iran/irans-involvement-iraq/p12521
Marisa Cochrane Sullivan. (2009, August 4). Irans soft power in Iraq, from
http://www.irantracker.org/analysis/iran%E2%80%99s-soft-power-iraq