The Purpose Of The Iran-Iraq War

This 8 year long war that resulted in millions of lives being taken away, known as the Iran-Iraq war, was one of the most significant conflicts of the century. Fearing that oil will be endangered again, the west was concerned. This particular war was sparked by many different types of disputes. They both had historical disputes, geographical disputes, and ideological disputes. Iran and Iraq fought each other with no mercy. The Iran and Iraq war caused a lot of death and destruction in both countries. By understanding the strategies used and objectives, we can further digest the purpose of the Iran-Iraq war. Historically, Iran and Iraq’s problems go way back. Aside from the fact that one side is Arabs and the other is Persian, they have cultural differences. Persia, which is now Iran, contains Shiite Muslims as a majority while Iraq contains Sunni Muslims as

Iraq makes their objectives clear of what they want from Iran. First, they want Iran to agree that Iraq has the sovereign right over its land and water (Shatt Al-Arab). Secondly, they wanted Iran to stop getting involved with Iraq’s affairs. Lastly, they want Iran to return the islands they occupied from United Arab Emirates. Of course there were the not so obvious goals that are obvious in this case. As the new regime in Iran has been put forth, Iraq seeks to protect the Baathist government that the Ayatollah wanted to get rid of. Another covert reason would be to destroy Iran’s military. This is because of their vulnerability to the lack of aid they are getting from the United States at the time. Iran also had its own goals they were asking of Iraq. They wanted Iraq to pull away from this fight as well as Iran’s territory. Secondly, they wanted Iraq to be responsible for war reparations. Lastly, they wanted Iraq to replace the Baathist Government with a Shiite Government.