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Middle East Conflict: Iraq and Iran War

You know, Squad, back in 1980, there was a war between the State of Iraq and Iran. This Middle East conflict was known as the Gulf War I. Then, this war occurred around 8 years ago, starting from 1980 to 1988. If there was a war, there must be a cause. Well, in this article we will discuss briefly about the background and how the Middle East conflict involved Iraq and Iran occurred. Come see carefully.



A. Background to the Gulf War I

There are several factors that led to the occurrence of the Gulf War I, where there was a war between Iraq and Iran. The following are some of the factors:

The desire of Iraq and Iran to control Shatt Al Arab. Shatt Al Arab is a strategic perariran route that separates Iraq-Iran to the Persian Gulf. As long as these waters are built by large ports, this area is an oil export route so that it becomes a disputed area.
Given the desire of Iraq and Iran to become rulers of the Gulf, this has been done since Britain ended its military involvement in the Gulf in 1971.
Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, is a Sunni Muslim who is worried about the existence of a Shia rebellion in Iraq. This revolt was inspired by the Iranian revolution under the leadership of Ayatulloh Khomeini.
The weakening of Iran's power after the 1979 revolution. Saddam Hussein was convinced that the situation in Iraq was unstable after the revolution because of the execution of pro-war officers against Shah Reza Pahlevi. This can benefit Iraq's invasion.
If we look at the above factors, the war between Iraq and Iran is caused by the existence of the same interests and desires to control the region. It was the struggle for the area which then triggered a war between the two.


B. The course of the Gulf War I


The onset of tension between the two countries was in April 1980. At that time, the International Economic Conference held by Asian student unions in Iraq was taking place. Suddenly, a bomb exploded and certainly thwarted the event.

Because of this incident, Iraq considered that Iran was challenging to fight. Lapse of 5 months later, precisely on September 4, 1980, Iran suddenly launched an attack on several areas of Iraq, such as the villages of Khanaqin, Muzayriah, Zurbatiyah, Qata Mandali and Mustapha and Neft Khaneh oil installations. As a result of this attack, dozens of Iraqis were victims.

Then Iraq did not remain silent. Less than a month later, on September 22, 1980 Iraq began a counter-attack. Iraq began destroying heavy weapons centers and also the Mehrabad airport, Tehran, Iran.

Iraq succeeded in occupying the islands of Tumb Besar and Tumb Kecil (the territorial disputes between the two countries) which had been controlled by Iran for hundreds of years. This attack was later considered an Iraqi victory. However, Iran did not remain silent, Iran returned to counterattack to the Basra and Wasit regions.

This war continues, the action against each other is inevitable. Until finally in April 1983, Iraq destroyed an oil well in Norwuz which had a major impact even to neighboring countries. The impact is very bad. Water resources around the Gulf region are polluted by oil. This makes the price of drinking water in this region very expensive. In fact, the price of one liter of water at that time is almost five times the price of the OPEC crude oil standard.

Some of the affected countries are Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. This war continued until the eighth year.

C. End of Gulf War I

The war that happened for 8 years turned out to be fruitless, Squad. In this bay war I have neither won nor lost. Until finally this war ended after Iran agreed to accept UN Security Council Resolution No. 598 of 1988. At the resolution, Iran was asked to carry out a ceasefire and the enforcement of the Algier Agreement which had been compiled since 1981.


Now that's the historical Squad of the Middle East conflict. In this article just described in the Gulf War I, there are still several other wars in the Middle East. This war between Iraq and Iran took a lot of casualties, even almost as many as victims of World War II.

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