The war started when Saddam decided to invade Iran on September 22nd in 1980. The attack was made by air force, because the mountainous border between Iran and Iraq made a deep ground invasion almost impossible. The attack damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft. The next day Iraq decided to launch a ground invasion in Iran. According to Saddam, the invasion was to fight the edge of Khomeini's movement and to stop his attempts to export his Islamic revolution to Iraq and the Persian Gulf states. With this invasion of Khuzestan, Saddam hoped that the Iran's government would suffer a downfall and he could call for his overthrow.
Even if the Iraq's attack surprised Iran, they responded with an air attack against Iraq military bases, this was named as the "Operation Kaman 99" and it was a success. After this, Iran started to attack on every Iraqi division, destroying a lot of aircraft and weaponry.
On 22 September a battle between both countries began in Khorramshahr. Because of the kills that were made at the end of this battle -In November with a victory of Iraq -, the city was called "City of Blood".
On 24 September, the Iranian Navy attacked Basra, Iraq, destroying two oil terminals near the Iraqi port Faw, which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil.
On 30 September, Iran's air force launched "Operation Scorch Sword", striking and badly damaging the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. In response, Iraq launched aerial strikes against Iranian targets.
Even if the Iraq's attack surprised Iran, they responded with an air attack against Iraq military bases, this was named as the "Operation Kaman 99" and it was a success. After this, Iran started to attack on every Iraqi division, destroying a lot of aircraft and weaponry.
On 22 September a battle between both countries began in Khorramshahr. Because of the kills that were made at the end of this battle -In November with a victory of Iraq -, the city was called "City of Blood".
On 24 September, the Iranian Navy attacked Basra, Iraq, destroying two oil terminals near the Iraqi port Faw, which reduced Iraq's ability to export oil.
On 30 September, Iran's air force launched "Operation Scorch Sword", striking and badly damaging the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. In response, Iraq launched aerial strikes against Iranian targets.
On 28 November, Iran launched "Operation Morvarid", a combined air and sea attack which destroyed 80% of Iraq's navy and all of their radar sites in the southern portion of the country.
On 7 December, Saddam announced that Iraq was going on the defensive. For the next eight months, both sides were to be on a defensive position as the Iranians needed more time to reorganise their forces and the damage inflicted by the purge of 1979–80, during this period only artillery attacks were made.
On 5 January 1981, Iran had reorganised its forces really well, so they were ready to launch a large-scale offensive, "Operation Nasr" was called. This attack was made in the city of Susangerd. In the Battle of Dezful - ordered by the Iranian President, Abulhassan Banisadr -, the Iranian division was nearly wiped out in one of the biggest tank battles of the war, reporters counted 150 tanks destroyed or deserted Iranian tanks, and also 40 Iraqi tanks.
On 3 April 1981, the Iranian air force attacked an Iraqian airbase, destroying almost 50 fighter jets. On that same month, Iran was forced to cancel its air offensive against Iraq, so they gave up trying to hold a total control of the Iranian airspace. While throughout 1981–1982 the Iraqi air force would remain weak, within the next few years they would rearm and expand again, and begin to regain the strategic initiative.
As Iran counted of the support of a lot of volunteers, they began using human wave attacks, the Iranian tactics consisted of using groups of 22 man infantry squads which moved forward to attack specific objectives.
For about a year after the Iraqi offensive in March 1981, there was little change in the front other than Iran retaking the high ground above Susangerd in May. However, by late 1981, Iran returned to the offensive and the Iraqi military was forced to retreat. Iran launched a new operation, "Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh" ending the Iraqi Siege of Abadan on 27–29 September 1981.
By the fall of 1981, serious problems with morale had developed in the Iraqi Army, with many soldiers seeing no point to the invasion. On 29 November 1981, Iran began Operation "Tariq al-Qods" with three army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades. The Iraqis failed to properly patrol their occupied areas, and 6,000 Iranians and over 2,000 Iraqis were killed in the operation.
Iraq, realising that the Iranians were planning to attack, decided to attack them with Operation "al-Fawz al-'Azim" on 19 March. Using a large number of tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets, they attacked the Iranian buildup around the Roghabiyeh pass. At first, Iraq thought they had succeded but Iran forces remained intact. The Iranians had concentrated much of their forces by bringing them directly from the cities and towns throughout Iran via trains, buses, and private cars. As a result, Saddam's army was unprepared for the Iranian offensives to come.
In the early morning hours of 23 May 1982, and after other several operations, the Iranians began the drive towards Khorramshahr across the Karun River. The Iranians hit the Iraqis with air strikes and artillery, crossed the Karun River, captured bridgeheads, and launched human wave’s attacks towards the city, Khorramshahr. Saddam's defensive barricade collapsed in less than 48 hours of fighting, the city fell and 23,000 Iraqis surrended to the Iranians. This operation was called "Operation Jerusalem". Saddam believed that his army was too demoralised and damaged to hold onto Khuzestan and major impression of territory in Iran, and remove his remaining armed forces from those areas. He positioned them in the borders of the country as a defensive position. However, his troops continued to occupy some key border areas of Iran, and continued to hold into the disputed territories that helped his invasion, including the Shatt al-Arab waterway which was the main cause of this war. Khorramshahr was completely destroyed and numeros other cities were severely damaged. In April 1982, the rival Baathist regime in Syria, one of the few nations that supported Iran, closed the Kirkuk–Banias pipeline that had allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers on the Mediterranean, reducing the Iraqi money by US$5 billion per month. Iraq began receiving support from the United States and west European countries as well, by receiving weaponry and money.
The soviet union, angry with Iran for purging and destroying the Tudeh Party (Iran's national communist party), sent large shipments of weapons to Iraq.
Iran gain some weapons from China, North Korea, and Libya but not as much as Iraq did.
On 20 June 1982 Saddam announced that he wanted peace and proposed an immediate ceasefire. Khomeini rejected the Iraqi peace offer because an immediate ceasefire would mean that Iraqi troops would remain on Iran's borders in the disputed territory. He proclaimed that Iran would invade Iraq and would not stop until the Ba'ath regime was replaced by an Islamic republic.
For most part of the time, Iraq remained on the defensive for the next six years of war, unable and unwilling to launch any major offensives, while Iran launched over 60 offensives against the Iraqis. Iraq's strategy changed from holding territory in Iran to denying Iran any major gains in Iraq. Iraq started to focus on using defense to defeat the Iranians, so they created static defensive lines. Sometimes even chemcial weapons were used as well agianst the Iranians human waves. At the end of those battles, Iran had lost a lot of military power.
On July 1982, the "Operation Ramadam" was made, the Iranians wanted to attack Basra. This operation was one of the largest land battles since WWll. On 16 July Iran managed to push back Iraqies but only 13 km from Basra. However Iraq forces surrounded the Iranians and won that battle.
After the failure of "Operation Ramadam" Iran still made some attacks agaisnt Iraq during the rest of 1982.
In early 1983 Iran launched five attacks into the front without success.
From 1983 to 1984 Iran launched about five more Operations called the "Dawn Operations" which basically were attacks on cities like Basra or Dezful.
By 1984 Iran and Iraq armies were equialized. On 15 February 1984, the Iranians began launching attacks against the central section of the front, where the Second Iraqi Army Corps were deployed: 250,000 Iraqis against 250,000 Iranians.
The main reason of this attack was the control of the Basra-Baghdad Highway, this battle was named as "The Battle of Marshes", which is a complex of marshes placed in the borders of Iran and IRaq. This battle ended up with the lives of 20,000 Iranians due to the great defense of the Iraqis.
As Iraq was unable to hurt Iran with ground attacks, they decided to use its air strike and attack Iranian shipping. This attacks were made to provoke Iran and to decrease Iran's economy.
By 1984, Iran's losses were about 300,000 soldiers, while Iraq's losses were about 250,000.
By the fall of 1981, serious problems with morale had developed in the Iraqi Army, with many soldiers seeing no point to the invasion. On 29 November 1981, Iran began Operation "Tariq al-Qods" with three army brigades and seven Revolutionary Guard brigades. The Iraqis failed to properly patrol their occupied areas, and 6,000 Iranians and over 2,000 Iraqis were killed in the operation.
Iraq, realising that the Iranians were planning to attack, decided to attack them with Operation "al-Fawz al-'Azim" on 19 March. Using a large number of tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets, they attacked the Iranian buildup around the Roghabiyeh pass. At first, Iraq thought they had succeded but Iran forces remained intact. The Iranians had concentrated much of their forces by bringing them directly from the cities and towns throughout Iran via trains, buses, and private cars. As a result, Saddam's army was unprepared for the Iranian offensives to come.
In the early morning hours of 23 May 1982, and after other several operations, the Iranians began the drive towards Khorramshahr across the Karun River. The Iranians hit the Iraqis with air strikes and artillery, crossed the Karun River, captured bridgeheads, and launched human wave’s attacks towards the city, Khorramshahr. Saddam's defensive barricade collapsed in less than 48 hours of fighting, the city fell and 23,000 Iraqis surrended to the Iranians. This operation was called "Operation Jerusalem". Saddam believed that his army was too demoralised and damaged to hold onto Khuzestan and major impression of territory in Iran, and remove his remaining armed forces from those areas. He positioned them in the borders of the country as a defensive position. However, his troops continued to occupy some key border areas of Iran, and continued to hold into the disputed territories that helped his invasion, including the Shatt al-Arab waterway which was the main cause of this war. Khorramshahr was completely destroyed and numeros other cities were severely damaged. In April 1982, the rival Baathist regime in Syria, one of the few nations that supported Iran, closed the Kirkuk–Banias pipeline that had allowed Iraqi oil to reach tankers on the Mediterranean, reducing the Iraqi money by US$5 billion per month. Iraq began receiving support from the United States and west European countries as well, by receiving weaponry and money.
The soviet union, angry with Iran for purging and destroying the Tudeh Party (Iran's national communist party), sent large shipments of weapons to Iraq.
Iran gain some weapons from China, North Korea, and Libya but not as much as Iraq did.
On 20 June 1982 Saddam announced that he wanted peace and proposed an immediate ceasefire. Khomeini rejected the Iraqi peace offer because an immediate ceasefire would mean that Iraqi troops would remain on Iran's borders in the disputed territory. He proclaimed that Iran would invade Iraq and would not stop until the Ba'ath regime was replaced by an Islamic republic.
For most part of the time, Iraq remained on the defensive for the next six years of war, unable and unwilling to launch any major offensives, while Iran launched over 60 offensives against the Iraqis. Iraq's strategy changed from holding territory in Iran to denying Iran any major gains in Iraq. Iraq started to focus on using defense to defeat the Iranians, so they created static defensive lines. Sometimes even chemcial weapons were used as well agianst the Iranians human waves. At the end of those battles, Iran had lost a lot of military power.
On July 1982, the "Operation Ramadam" was made, the Iranians wanted to attack Basra. This operation was one of the largest land battles since WWll. On 16 July Iran managed to push back Iraqies but only 13 km from Basra. However Iraq forces surrounded the Iranians and won that battle.
After the failure of "Operation Ramadam" Iran still made some attacks agaisnt Iraq during the rest of 1982.
In early 1983 Iran launched five attacks into the front without success.
From 1983 to 1984 Iran launched about five more Operations called the "Dawn Operations" which basically were attacks on cities like Basra or Dezful.
By 1984 Iran and Iraq armies were equialized. On 15 February 1984, the Iranians began launching attacks against the central section of the front, where the Second Iraqi Army Corps were deployed: 250,000 Iraqis against 250,000 Iranians.
The main reason of this attack was the control of the Basra-Baghdad Highway, this battle was named as "The Battle of Marshes", which is a complex of marshes placed in the borders of Iran and IRaq. This battle ended up with the lives of 20,000 Iranians due to the great defense of the Iraqis.
As Iraq was unable to hurt Iran with ground attacks, they decided to use its air strike and attack Iranian shipping. This attacks were made to provoke Iran and to decrease Iran's economy.
By 1984, Iran's losses were about 300,000 soldiers, while Iraq's losses were about 250,000.
In 1985, for the first time since 1980, Saddam launched new offensives. They carried out another war of cities hitting up to 158 targets in 30 towns, Iran responded by launching 14 missiles for the first time. They attacked again on 28 January but they were defeated by the Iranians, who responded on 11 March 1985 by attacking the Baghdad-Basra Highway, this attack was named "Operation Badr". The Iraqies ended up wining this battle and Iranians had to retreat.
Months before the end of this battle, February, the Iranians launched "Operation Dawn 8" which consisted of capturing the al-Faw peninsula, southern Iraq. This caputre of the peninsula surprised Iraqies and in the same month they began to counter attack in order to regain the peninsula but they ended up losing. Iraq tried to attack again, and they lost again. After the capture of the peninsula Saddam ordered a new offensive deep into the state. So, Iraq captured Mehran. In 30 March the Iranians attacked and recaptured the city.
As the Iraqis were planning their strike, the Iranians continued to attack. In 1987 there were series of major Iranian human wave offensives in both northern and southern Iraq. Iran's strategy was to penetrate through some massive defensive lines which the Iraqis had built around the city, and encircle Basra, cutting off the city as well as the Al-Faw peninsula from the rest of Iraq. By doing this, Iran hoped that this conquer would force Iraq to negotiate for a settlement favorable to Iran.
On 25 December 1986, Iran launched "Operation Karbala-4", this was an attack against Umm al-Rassas island which was a complete success.
On 8 January 1987 the "Second Battle of Basra" began, when Iran used its air strike against Iraq. Despite the superiority of Iranian's weaponry, the defensive lines of Iraq prevented a victory of Iranians. After more strikes, Iran managed to besiege the city. During the year there was a stalemate on land, so the air/tanker war began to take a major role and some battles were made but not with major importance.
By 1988, with massive equipment, Iraq was ready to launch major offensives against Iran. On February 1988, Saddam began the fifth and most deadly war of the cities. Over the next two months Iraq launched a lot of missiles against 37 Iranian cities, also chemical weapons were used in those attacks. These attacks had a mor valuable effect on the economy of the city.
On 17 April Iraq launched another attack, called "Operation Ramadam Mubarak", on the peninsula. They ended up winning this battle thanks to the chemical weapons they used, which were cyanide and nerve gas.
On 25 May, Iraq, again, launched another Operation, called "Tawakalna ala Allah Operation" consisting of one of the largest artillery barrages in history, with chemical weapons, with these they managed to expell the Iranians from the border town of Shalamcheh in a few hours. On June, they striked again in order to recapturate the peninsula (Al-Faw), they succeeded.
Saddam sent a warning to Khomeini in that month, saying that they would strike with more heavy weapons. Inmediately, Iraq bombed the town of Oshnavieh with poison gas, killing over 2,000 civilians. Iran did reply with missile and air attacks as well, but not enough hard as the Iraqis. More strikes were made by Iraq, including the town of Zardan which was poisoned.
Finally, on 20 July of 1988, Iran decided to accept the ceasefire. A statement from Khomeini was read in the radio, and he expressed deep displeasure about accepting the ceasefire:
"Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Happy are those who have lost their lives in this convoy of light. Unhappy am I that I still survive and have drunk the poisoned chalice..."
Civilians celebrated the end of the war with dances and parties, because, after eight years of war, both countries had finnally reached an agreement.
Months before the end of this battle, February, the Iranians launched "Operation Dawn 8" which consisted of capturing the al-Faw peninsula, southern Iraq. This caputre of the peninsula surprised Iraqies and in the same month they began to counter attack in order to regain the peninsula but they ended up losing. Iraq tried to attack again, and they lost again. After the capture of the peninsula Saddam ordered a new offensive deep into the state. So, Iraq captured Mehran. In 30 March the Iranians attacked and recaptured the city.
As the Iraqis were planning their strike, the Iranians continued to attack. In 1987 there were series of major Iranian human wave offensives in both northern and southern Iraq. Iran's strategy was to penetrate through some massive defensive lines which the Iraqis had built around the city, and encircle Basra, cutting off the city as well as the Al-Faw peninsula from the rest of Iraq. By doing this, Iran hoped that this conquer would force Iraq to negotiate for a settlement favorable to Iran.
On 25 December 1986, Iran launched "Operation Karbala-4", this was an attack against Umm al-Rassas island which was a complete success.
On 8 January 1987 the "Second Battle of Basra" began, when Iran used its air strike against Iraq. Despite the superiority of Iranian's weaponry, the defensive lines of Iraq prevented a victory of Iranians. After more strikes, Iran managed to besiege the city. During the year there was a stalemate on land, so the air/tanker war began to take a major role and some battles were made but not with major importance.
By 1988, with massive equipment, Iraq was ready to launch major offensives against Iran. On February 1988, Saddam began the fifth and most deadly war of the cities. Over the next two months Iraq launched a lot of missiles against 37 Iranian cities, also chemical weapons were used in those attacks. These attacks had a mor valuable effect on the economy of the city.
On 17 April Iraq launched another attack, called "Operation Ramadam Mubarak", on the peninsula. They ended up winning this battle thanks to the chemical weapons they used, which were cyanide and nerve gas.
On 25 May, Iraq, again, launched another Operation, called "Tawakalna ala Allah Operation" consisting of one of the largest artillery barrages in history, with chemical weapons, with these they managed to expell the Iranians from the border town of Shalamcheh in a few hours. On June, they striked again in order to recapturate the peninsula (Al-Faw), they succeeded.
Saddam sent a warning to Khomeini in that month, saying that they would strike with more heavy weapons. Inmediately, Iraq bombed the town of Oshnavieh with poison gas, killing over 2,000 civilians. Iran did reply with missile and air attacks as well, but not enough hard as the Iraqis. More strikes were made by Iraq, including the town of Zardan which was poisoned.
Finally, on 20 July of 1988, Iran decided to accept the ceasefire. A statement from Khomeini was read in the radio, and he expressed deep displeasure about accepting the ceasefire:
"Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Happy are those who have lost their lives in this convoy of light. Unhappy am I that I still survive and have drunk the poisoned chalice..."
Civilians celebrated the end of the war with dances and parties, because, after eight years of war, both countries had finnally reached an agreement.