Iran-Iraq war. Ch 1
The Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 of the year to 1988, was one of the worst and bloodiest conflicts in the newest stories of humanity. Relations between Tehran and Baghdad have been strained since the creation of the Kingdom of Iraq (1921 year). Both countries had territorial claims against each other. In 1937, an agreement was signed between the countries by which the border ran along the left (Iranian) bank of the Shatt al-Arab.Throughout the twentieth century, the Iraqi government claimed the eastern bank of the Shatt al-Arab (in the Persian version, Arvandrud). There were located two major ports and industrial centers - Abadan (the former Anglo-Iranian oil company established one of the world's largest oil refining complexes) and Khorramshahr (the largest trading port and railway junction in southern Iran). The Shatt al-Arab River was formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, and rich deposits of black gold were found on its banks. The eastern bank of the river belongs to Tehran, the western - to Baghdad. The river is an important transportation route and water resource. The Iranians insisted that the border be in the middle of the river bed. The subject of the dispute was also 6 of small sections of the land border, with a total area of 370 km. These sites were located north of Khorramshahr, Fuka, Mehran (two sites), Nefshah and Qasr-Shirin.
The conflict was provoked by the support of each other’s anti-government forces: Baghdad indulged Arab separatism in Khuzestan (the Iraqi government believed that this province should be part of an Arab state), both countries flirted with the Kurds.
The fall of the monarchy in Iraq, the establishment of a republic, and the coming to power of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Baath) did not improve relations with Iran. Iranian monarch Mohammed Reza Pahlavi saw in the political changes that took place in Iraq a direct threat to his power. Washington and London, who by this time were firmly settled in Shah's Iran, were also actively convincing of this, tying him to him with strong threads of military, financial, economic and political dependence. The United States and Great Britain tried to turn Iraq (which began to focus on the USSR) into Iran’s main enemy in the region. All the military and political activities of the Shah regime began to acquire a clearly defined anti-Iraq orientation. In addition, Tehran decided that Iraq was weakened by internal shocks (coups, Kurdish uprising led by Mustafa Barzani, economic decline). The Iranian government of 19 on April 1969 of the year unilaterally denounced the contract of 1937 of the year. Now the border between Iran and Iraq was strictly in the middle of the river. As expected by the Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (reigned from 16 September 1941 to 11 February 1979 of the year), Iraq was forced to put up with it.
In the future, the relationship continued to heat up. 20 January 1970, a group of conspirators attempted a coup in Iraq. Baghdad accused the Iranian embassy of subversive activities in Iraqi territory. In response, the Iranian government ordered the Iraqi ambassador to leave Iran within 24 hours. In 1971, Iran captured several Iraqi islands in the Strait of Hormuz - Abu Musa, the Great and the Small Tomb. And in Iraq, an information campaign began with a demand to return Khuzestan (Arabistan) to the Arabs.
The October 1973 crisis of the year led to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Iraq. But the fundamental contradictions between the countries were not resolved. Tehran continued to support the rebel Kurds; in March 1974, the Iranians opened borders for Kurdish separatists who were retreating from Iraq under pressure from government forces. Camps for military training of Kurds were established in Iran. Baghdad as a countermeasure in 1975-1978 along the Iran-Iraq border created the so-called. "Arab belt" widths up to 25 km - Iraqi people of Arab origin were resettled to it. The situation went to war.
OPEC (Organization of countries - exporters of oil) was not interested in the exacerbation of relations between the two major oil exporters. With the mediation of this organization, negotiations began between Tehran and Baghdad. As a result, 6 in March 1975 of the year in Algeria (OPEC high-level conference was working there these days) Iraq’s Vice President Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi, mediated by the head of Algeria, Houari Boumediene signed a new agreement on borders in the Shatt el-El Arab. The contract from 1937 was canceled and the thalweg (mid fairway) of the river was officially established. In response, Tehran has pledged to stop supporting Kurdish separatists. The agreement was reinforced by 13 June 1975, the treaty on borders and good neighborly relations between the two states. Tehran had to withdraw troops from some disputed areas. The Iraqi government was inferior to Iran 518 q. km of its territory. The parties decided to continue the negotiation process with a view to resolving the entire complex of contradictions, including the issue of the border regime and the problem of persons expelled by Iraq (at the beginning of 1970-s, thousands of people of Iranian origin were deported from Iraq to 60 in order to eliminate the fifth column in the country ").
Crisis
Unfortunately, the peace process was not continued. All of these favorable undertakings were thwarted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution of the Year in Iran. Shah Pahlavi was overthrown, the monarchy was abolished, and the new Iranian leadership treated the Iraqi Ba'athists very negatively. Thus, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution and the founder of the new order, was at one time expelled from Iraq by the Ba'athists at the request of the Iranian Shah. Moreover, a religious confrontation was imposed on a complex of various contradictions: the ruling elite of Iraq was from the Sunni north-western regions of the country and was marked by the suppression of Shiite unrest in the south in February of 1977. Shiite shrines in Karbala, Najaf and other Iraqi cities have become another embodiment of mutual claims.
Being in power in Baghdad and Tehran of two regimes completely hostile to each other made the complex situation so critical. In 1979, the religious Iranian government, headed by Khomeini, demanded that Baghdad transfer the Shiite shrines, which were located in Karbala and Najaf, to the Iranian city of Qom. Naturally, Baghdad reacted sharply negatively. In 1979, the hard leader Saddam Hussein seized all power in Iraq. He went for a personal insult to the Shiites: in October 1979 of the year, visiting the holy city of Shiites Nejaf, Hussein showed a drawing of the genealogical tree that built his lineage to the prophet Muhammad.
Saddam Hussein decided that a limited military conflict would force Iran. He took into account the fact that the world community (the West) reacted strongly to the Iranian Islamic revolution. Now the West was an ally of Iraq, not Iran. In addition, Iran was undergoing a process of revolutionary cleansing of the armed forces — the army was reduced from 240 to 180 thousand and 250 generals were replaced by junior commanders or priests who were inclined to military affairs. As a result, the combat capability of the Iranian army dropped significantly. Hussein also took into account this factor.
17 September 1979 of the year The Iraqi government announced a unilateral denunciation of the Algerian agreement 1975 of the year to establish the Iran-Iraq border in the area of the Shatt al-Arab river in the center of the fairway. The war became inevitable. In a society growing aggressive mood. October 7 The 1979 of the year in Khorramshahr was defeated by the Iraqi consulate. Tehran officially renamed the Persian Gulf to the Islamic Gulf. The Iranian government supports the establishment of underground Shiite movements in Iraq. Baghdad, in turn, finances and arms the Revolutionary Democratic Front for the Liberation of Arabistan, detachments of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and the group “Mujahideen of the People”.
The main causes of the war:
- The basis of the contradictions between Tehran and Baghdad were territorial disputes, as well as military-political rivalry between them, the struggle for leadership in the Persian Gulf zone and among Islamic countries.
- The conflict of the Sunni leadership of Iraq and the Shiite clergy of Iran played a significant role.
- The policy of the Muslim Shiite clergy, led by Ayatollah Khomeini to export the Islamic revolution in the region, aggravated the situation. Tehran tried to overthrow the ruling Baathist regime in Iraq.
- The personality of Saddam Hussein, his ambitions. Hussein wanted to become the leader of the Arab world, weaken a competitor in the Gulf, take advantage of the temporary weakening of Iran, which has lost support from the West.
- It is necessary to note the inflammatory activities of Western intelligence services, primarily American, which, through specially selected misinformation, pushed Saddam Hussein to a direct war with Iran. Apparently, the interests of Western corporations, including the military, played a certain role.
First skirmishes
Already since the beginning of 1980, the border war has been de facto between the countries. Baghdad counted from 23 February to 26 July to 244 “acts of aggression” by the Iranians. At the same time, there was an active psychological and information war. 1 April 1980, a bomb was thrown at the deputy head of the Iraqi government, Tarek Aziz, during a meeting with students at Al-Mustansiriy University. Aziz was injured, several people died. Hussein accused Tehran and the Shiite terrorist organization, Ad Dawah, of the assassination attempt. 5 April during the funeral of the victims of the attempt at the university a bomb was thrown into the crowd, several more people were killed. Hussein responded by ordering the execution of the head of the Iraqi Shiites (and the head of the organization Hell Dawah), Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr Sadr and his sister. In addition, Iraqi troops bombed the Iranian city of Qasr-Shirin.
There were international scandals. In April, Iranian Foreign Minister Sadek Gotbzadeh said during a visit to Syria that Hussein was allegedly killed during a military coup, and that Tehran was ready to assist the Iraqi opposition. Iraq applied to the UN Security Council demanding that the Iranians immediately release a number of islands occupied in 1971. In response, Iran’s leader Khomeini called on the people of Iraq to overthrow the “enemy of the Koran and Islam” regime of Saddam Hussein.
In the summer of 1980, Saddam Hussein finally headed for war. In July, at a press conference for foreign journalists, a statement was made that Iraq would not “sit back” in the face of Iranian aggression. In order to support his plans from the Arab world, the leader of Iraq in August 1980 of the year made a hajj to Mecca. Arab monarchs supported the course of Hussein to the war, because they hated and feared Khomeini, they feared the spread of the Islamic revolution in the region. The chronicle of visiting Hussein of Mecca was broadcast on the entire Arab world. In addition, Hussein enlisted the support of the United States, he had good relations with the USSR. Iran was supported only by Syria and Libya.
4-6 September 1980 began the first significant armed clashes at the border using heavy artillery, air force and navy in the Qasr el-Shirin area. On September 8, the Iranian charge d'affaires in the capital of Iraq was handed a document stating that, in order to defend itself, Baghdad was forced to take measures to prevent the occupation of the Zein al-Qaus district. The memorandum expressed the hope that Tehran would begin to liberate the Iraqi territories captured by the Iranians earlier. But this offer remained unanswered. September 9 Iraqi troops squeezed out Iranians from the Zayn al-Qaus area. By 16 September, the Iraqi army "liberated" 125 square. km of territory. In response, Tehran closed the airspace of its country for Iraqi airplanes and imposed a ban on navigation through the Shatt al-Arab and the Strait of Hormuz. September 17 at an extraordinary meeting of the National Council Saddam Hussein announced the unilateral cancellation of the Algiers Agreement 1975 year. He said that the Shatt al-Arab should become only Arab and Iraqi. 22 September 1980, Iraqi troops launched a strategic offensive in the Khuzestan area.
Hussein had reason to believe that the war would be victorious. The Iraqi armed forces had a significant advantage: in terms of manpower (240 thousand military, plus 75 thousand tons of the People’s Army, about 5 thousand security forces), tanks (about 3 thousand tanks, 2,5 thousand units of armored vehicles). Iran had 180 thousand people, about 1600 tanks. In artillery and aviation there was approximate equality. Only in the Navy did the Iranians have some advantage, since the Shah dreamed at the time of being the "gendarme" of the Persian Gulf and paid great attention to the development of the Navy. The Iranian army was weakened by revolutionary purges, somewhat inferior to the Iraqi Armed Forces in technical terms. A great weakness of the Iranian Armed Forces was the lack of combat experience, unlike their adversary: Iraqi forces participated in wars against the Jewish state (in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973) and had experience of the counter-guerrilla war in Kurdistan (1961-1970, 1974-1975) . In Khuzestan, the Iraqi military could meet the benevolent attitude of the Arab population. Hussein also had a “trump card” - significant chemical reserves weapons and developing nuclear program. The Iraqi army had great chances to win the short-term campaign. But Iraq should have feared a protracted war. Iran had greater human resources (in Iraq, in 1977, there were 12 million people). The 50 million-plus Islamic Republic of Iran could have waged a war of attrition for a long time, ground Iraqi troops, and then launched an offensive. In addition, the population had a strong patriotic, religious and revolutionary core.
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