Battles & Wars › Cold War
Iran–Iraq War
September 1980 – August 1988· War· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
An eight-year war begun when Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded revolutionary Iran, ending in a costly stalemate.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
In September 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, hoping to exploit post-revolution chaos, seize the Shatt al-Arab waterway and stop Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution from spreading. Iran pushed Iraq back by 1982 and the war bogged down into trench warfare reminiscent of World War I, with human-wave attacks, missile strikes on cities and Iraqi chemical weapons. Both sides attacked oil tankers in the Gulf. A UN-brokered ceasefire took effect in August 1988 with borders unchanged. Estimates range from about 500,000 to over a million dead.
Why it matters
It left Iraq heavily indebted and militarized, setting up its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and hardened Iran's revolutionary state.
How we know
Iranian and Iraqi official records, Iraqi documents captured after 2003, UN inspectors' reports confirming chemical weapons use, and survivors' accounts.
Still debated
Total casualties are uncertain, and so is how much foreign help, including Western intelligence and chemical supplies, enabled Iraq's gas attacks.
Connections (4)
▸Poison gas was used again in Iran–Iraq WarWell documented
The connection
Banned by the 1925 Geneva Protocol after the horrors of World War I, poison gas returned on a large scale when Iraq used mustard gas and nerve agents such as tabun and sarin against Iranian troops from 1983. In 1988 Iraq gassed Kurdish civilians in Halabja, killing an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people.
When and how
Iran–Iraq front lines from 1983 to 1988, especially the southern marshes and the Fao Peninsula, and Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan on March 16, 1988.
How we know
UN expert teams confirmed Iraqi chemical attacks from 1984 onward; captured Iraqi documents and post-2003 trials, including of 'Chemical Ali' (Ali Hassan al-Majid), added detail.
Debates and open questions
How much Western governments knew, and whether foreign firms knowingly supplied chemicals, is debated; claims that Iran also used gas are disputed.
▸Iran–Iraq War left Iraq indebted, helping cause Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)Mostly agreed
The connection
The eight-year war left Iraq owing an estimated $80 billion or more, much of it to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, with a huge army and a shattered economy. Saddam demanded debt relief, accused Kuwait of overproducing oil and drilling into a shared border oil field, then invaded in August 1990.
When and how
Baghdad and Kuwait, 1988–1990; an OPEC dispute over oil output and prices, and the Rumaila oil field straddling the border.
How sure are we?
Iraqi statements at the time, US and Arab diplomatic records, and Iraqi documents captured after 2003 describe the debt and oil grievances.
Debates and open questions
Whether mixed US signals, such as Ambassador April Glaspie's July 1990 meeting with Saddam, encouraged him to invade is debated.
▸Iran–Iraq War began the Iranian missile program tested in Twelve-Day War (Israel and the US vs. Iran)Mostly agreed
The connection
In the 1980s Iraqi Scud missiles hit Tehran, and Iran had almost no way to strike back. It bought Scuds from Libya and North Korea, began copying them, and made missiles the core of its defense. That arsenal, later the Middle East's largest, is what Iran fired at Israel in 2025.
When and how
Iran's first missile strikes on Iraq came in 1985, during the 'War of the Cities'; Revolutionary Guards officer Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam led the program.
How sure are we?
Iranian officials openly trace the program to that war, and Western analysts such as the IISS document its line from Scuds to modern missiles.
Debates and open questions
How much help Iran still gets from North Korea, and how many missiles it has left after 2025 and 2026, are uncertain.
▸China's arms makers: NORINCO and AVIC sold arms to both sides in the Iran–Iraq WarWell documented
The connection
During the 1980–88 war, Chinese state arms firms, led by the new NORINCO, sold to both Iran and Iraq: tanks, artillery and rifles to each, F-7 jets to Iraq through Egypt, and Silkworm anti-ship missiles that Iran fired at Gulf shipping. The sales earned billions of dollars and made China a major exporter.
When and how
Iran and Iraq, 1980–88; China officially claimed neutrality and denied many of the sales.
How we know
SIPRI arms-transfer records, US government reports and captured or displayed equipment document the sales.
Debates and open questions
Exact totals are uncertain and estimates vary widely, partly because many deals went through intermediaries such as North Korea and Egypt.