What Started The Iraq Iran War ?
The war that began in Iraq was meant to invade Iran by land and air. Iraq troops landed in Iran in 1980 on 22nd September. However, there is a history behind the Iraq Iran War and understanding that will allow a person to understand why the war took place between these two neighboring countries. |
Before Iraq decided to invade Iran, there was a long drawn conflict between the two countries over borders. The Shia majority was inspired by the Iranian Revolution. Iraq at that time was planning on becoming the key state in the Persian Gulf region instead of Iran.
Iraq dealt with the issue in an opportunistic way. It used the Iran Revolution to its advantage and attacked the country without any warning. The United Nations made several attempts to organize a cease fire and after several years of conflict they were successful. It took many years for Iranian armies to evacuate the Iraq land and respect the pre war border agreements. In 2003, the last of the prisoners of war were sent home from both these countries.
The war took a heavy price from both these countries with nearly half a million people killed. Several of them were injured. The conflict between Iran and Iraq has been compared to the First World War by experts. The amount of damage and to the extent which both the countries went through was the most severe in the 20th century. Every kind of weapon including chemical weapons was used in the war to devastate each other. Throughout the war most of the international community’s remained silent until the United Nations came forward to put an end to it.
One of the main factors that contributed to the conflict between these two emerging powers was the dispute over a waterway called the Arvand Rud. This was the main channel for oil exports. This dispute was being continued since the Ottoman-Persian War era. However, a peace treaty was signed between Iraq and Iran in 1930. An amicable decision was reached to use the waterways.
To summarize, the main objectives of the Iran and Iraq war were to control the Caravan River and Iraqi’s wanted full possession of the waterway. This was absolutely not possible because Iran depended on the same resources. Iraq also wanted to acquire the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs, and the Abu Musa. They were acting on behalf of United Arab Emirates. They also wanted Khuzestan to be annexed to Iraq. They wanted to prevent an Islamic revolution on their land.
More Articles :
Wikipedia: Iran-Iraq War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
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The United States is already fighting wars in two countries, namely Iran and Afghanistan. However, the government is also at loggerheads with Iran. And, there is always the fear that war will start with Iran too. However, if war starts with Iran, one has to consider the financial repercussions. This war will financially affect the entire world and not just the United States. 