Committee Article- JCPOA

By Udita Nair, Arwa Darukhanawala, and Purv Ashar

The eight year long Iran-Iraq conflict started in September 1980, tackling religious, political and territorial disputes. The war began once the Iraqi armed forces invaded Iran, whose military was at a significant disadvantage due to the recent revolutionary movements underway in the country at that time.

The signing of the Algiers Accord (an agreement between Iran and Iraq to settle border disputes) in early March 1975 spurred a series of events that led to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. The relationship between the two countries remained moderate until 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian political leader, returned to Iran after 14 years of exile. He was arrested and exiled for opposing the Shah's actions regarding Iran's ruling system.

Only a year after being appointed the fifth president of Iraq, this invasion in 1980 was decided by Saddam Hussein. Hussein was a part of the Ba’ath party, which gained control of Iraq in 1964. This control allowed him to return to Iraq from Cairo, where he had fled to in the attempt to assassinate Iraq's military ruler, General Abdul Karim Qassem. However, Hussein was only appointed president in 1979 due to the Ba’athist government being overthrown a few years prior. After escaping prison in 1968 and forcing his cousin out of the presidency for his own gain, Hussein was officially announced as the President of Iraq. Saddam Hussein was known for his dictatorial and totalitarian leadership style that rewarded him with oil and wealth, and reprimanded anyone who opposed his rule, leading them to torture or execution.

Meanwhile, Iran in the 1970s was facing inflation and worsening standards of living due to large expenditures taking place on the Shah government’s behalf. This caused the general Iranian public to grow steadily frustrated with their leadership and wished to issue a new leader. In 1978, civilians protested against the Shah, who dealt with the situation by allowing an open fire against his own people. This only led to more outrage amongst the Iranians causing crucial workers from the oil industry to go on strike, ultimately forcing the Shah to flee Iran. Soon after, Iran was declared an Islamic Republic.

Saddam Hussein introduced a proposal in 1980, triggering an eruption of events in Iraq. He bid on the idea of a pan-Arab charter that called for a "nonaligned" Arab world and opposed the presence of either superpower in the region (referring to the domains of Iran and Iraq). Iraq was placed at the center of a new Arab coalition, while simultaneously resisting Soviet expansionism after the invasion of Afghanistan. Repeated Iraqi attacks on oil and other facilities near the Iran-Iraq border took place. In response, Iran put its armed forces on "full alert", further escalating tensions between the two countries. Iran fired wide-ranging military weapons toward Iraqi border towns, which Iraq considered the beginning of war. Iraq abolished the Algiers Accord of 1975 and launched a two-branched attack against Iran. Iran clapped back by attacking military and economic points in Iraq. In 1981, Islamic leaders found the will to arrive at a peaceful end to the war between Iran and Iraq. So, both countries agree to a visit.

Saddam Hussein feared that the revolutions that took place in Iraq could repeat in Iraq, and this was worrying due to some of his political power relying on minorities in Iraq. On top of the existing tensions between Iran and Iraq, Iran was also supplying Iraqi Kurds with weapons and arms to fight against the Baathist regime. In response, Hussein decided to take advantage of Iran’s weak military during this time and led a full-scale invasion into Khuzestan, an Iranian region rich in oil.

However, the events that transpired in 1982 revealed that the battle was not over. Iran launched a new offensive against Iraq to drive the Iraqis out of Iranian territory. In 1983, Ayatollah Khomeini blasted threats to close off oil supplies to the West by sealing the Persian Gulf, on the condition that the West increased military aid to Iraq. Both members of the war aimed to smite civilian targets in 1984, at which point, the United Nations stepped in. The U.N. Secretary formulated an agreement between Iraq and Iran where both sides agreed to stop attacking citizens. Furthermore, Iraq and the United States re-established the entirety of their diplomatic relationship. But, despite a treaty between the two, Iran and Iraq overthrew the 1984 treaty that banned attacks on civilians. In June of 1987, The U.N. Security Council called for an instant cease-fire, attempting to put the conflict to rest.

A month later, the U.N. passed another resolution that called for a cease-fire, which became known as Resolution 598; it called for an international arms restraint against Iran and Iraq if either side decided not to comply with a cease-fire within two months. Ignoring the first negotiation, Iraq began bombing attacks on the Iranian oil fields at Tabriz, thus terminating the informal cease-fire agreement that lasted 25 days. On the other hand, all members of the U.N. announced themselves as ready to accept Resolution 598 in December 1987.

A year later, 1988 brought a whirlwind of battles, with Iraq killing over five thousand Iraqi Kurds during chemical weapon attacks. An American Navy missile cruiser, USS Vincennes, took down an Iranian passenger plane, Iran Air 655, in the Persian Gulf, killing 11,290 civilians on board. A U.S. Navy representative said, "the ship mistook the Iran Air Airbus A300 for a hostile Iranian F-16." In agreement, Ayatollah Khomeini endorsed a cease-fire. The U.N. announced that it would send missions to Tehran and Baghdad to begin working on a formal cease-fire. Accordingly, a U.N.-supported cease-fire broke into effect. A few years later in 1990, the Iraqi army invaded and took over Kuwait. And in 1991, the Gulf War began, opening with an extensive airborne bombing attack. The coalition forces faced Iraq with one of the most intense air raids in military history.

The War Through Different Countries:

The United States supported Iraq and provided military aid and intelligence data to them. However, a change in leadership in 1979, to an anti-American leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. As the USA depended on oil from the neighbouring regions. An Iranian victory would potentially hamper that. Hence the USA kept providing Iraq resources.

China, rather than supporting anyone, were financial benefactors, selling Chinese-made arms to Iraq and Iran in exchange for valuable oil, present in abundance in both conflicting countries. With this newfound oil abundance, China could complete its economic and political transformation.

Iran, after their 1979 revolution, lost military and economic power, giving Iraq a chance to take control over the Persian Gulf. Iraq forayed into Khuzestan in September 1980, stunning Iran. Even after Iraq began seeking a peace agreement with Iran in late 1982, Iran, and Saddam Hussain, continued the war in a bid to overthrow the Iraqi leader Ruhollah Khomeini, who Hussain didn’t see eye-to-eye with. In 1988, after Iraq made significant progress on the battlefield, Iran accepted a ceasefire after 500,000+ casualties.