Why Did Saddam Invade Iran?

Ever since the 19^th century, when Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire, there have always been border disputes between it and Iran. The main reasons for these conflicts was the delineation of the border in the Arvandrud area (Shatt al-Arab) and Iraq’s claim to ownership over some of the northwestern parts of this territory. However, from the time of the  Treaty of Constantinople in 1913 until 1975, when the Algiers Agreement was signed between Iran and Iraq, the most important dispute between the two countries was regarding the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

After World War II and the ascendency of the bipolar world order, countries were expected to align politically with either the Eastern or Western blocs. During the Baath Party’s rule in Iraq, the country was perceived as aligned with the Eastern superpower, i.e., the former Soviet Union. However, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran distanced itself from the policies of the United States, thus leaving the American interests in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East in jeopardy. The movement of the Iranian people, with its revolutionary nature, had the potential to export the revolutionary ideology and disrupt the power balance in the region. Consequently, the Baath Party in Iraq sought to raise concern among other Arab governments about the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran and position itself as a supporter of Arab countries against the wave of Iranian freedom-seeking.

On September 22, 1980, after months of border skirmishes and limited clashes, the Iraq-Iran War broke out with Saddam Hussein’s army launching a full-scale invasion of Iran. This war lasted for eight years.

The causes and factors leading to the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, from its inception to the present day, have always been a topic of discussion due to its military, political, and legal implications. To examine the causes of the Iran-Iraq War, it is necessary to first study the situation in Iran after the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime and the concerns of Western states about the influence of the Islamic Revolution in the region. The collapse of the Pahlavi monarchy undermined the foundation of the US strategy in the Middle East, which relied on the stability of Iran and Saudi Arabia, thereby leading to a shift in the relations between Iran and Iraq.

Following the collapse of the Pahlavi regime and the creation of a power vacuum in the region, the relative balance of power between Iran and Iraq changed. Consequently, in order to restore the pre-revolution situation, the interests of the United States and Europe in the region needed to be secured. This perspective led the superpowers to align against the Islamic Revolution in Iran in an attempt to contain it and restore Iran to its pre-revolution state. James Bill, an expert on the Persian Gulf and West Asia affairs, explains the real cause of the war Saddam Hussein waged against Iran: “The real reason for the war was the political rivalry to dominate the Persian Gulf. In this process, Iraq hoped to nip the Iranian Revolution in the bud”.

After victory, many revolutions around the world faced the risk of military invasion from outside their borders. This was also the case with the Islamic Revolution of Iran. The external factors contributing to the outbreak of the war after the victory of the Revolution include, the impact of the Revolution on other societies, the fears of rulers and non-democratic governments, the role of foreign policies, and the impact of the war on economic growth. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, those aforementioned factors were very likely to come to fruition, hence, the occurrence of a military attack by a foreign army was imminent.

With the collapse of the monarchical system in Iran, Western countries lost their military foothold in the region. The power vacuum crisis in the Persian Gulf region disrupted the balance of power between the countries of this region and the two superpowers namely, the Eastern and Western blocs. Meanwhile, the role of the main players in the region i.e., the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, came into question, creating an opportunity for new players, such as Iraq and the former Soviet Union, who were dissatisfied with the existing structure.

The White House was the main culprit behind the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran War. The US officials and politicians pursued several objectives by planning military aggression against Iran. The first objective was to eliminate the Islamic Revolution because Iran was under the control of the United States during the Pahlavi regime, due to its abundant underground resources and geopolitical importance.

The second objective was to prevent the export of the Islamic Revolution to US-dominated states such as Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf countries, African countries, etc. This issue caused concern for the United States, such that Henry Kissinger, the former US National Security Advisor, said that if the Islamic Revolution remains limited to the geographical borders of Iran it would be acceptable for the USA. The third objective was to strengthen the presence of the occupiers in Palestine. Since supporting Palestinians and opposing the Zionist regime was one of the aims of the Islamic Revolution, Zionists, together with the United States, sought to overthrow the Islamic Republic through military intervention. The final objective was to create turmoil in the region and sell weapons to Iraq and the monarchies of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea, under the pretext of safeguarding their interests and providing security for the rulers of the region.

Before the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran War, the Iraqi politicians perceived the Iranian army as a weak military force that was only superior to Iraq in terms of the number of troops and equipment. They thought that the Iranian army, due to the Islamic Revolution, had lost its experienced commanders and lacked the necessary order, discipline, and power to carry out operations. Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated in the summer of 1980 that, “Today, the Iranian army is in disarray.” Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, also said, “Now we have sufficient force to get back our rights from Iran.” However, what the Iraqi leaders considered a threat was the Islamic thinking, ideology, and popular support for the political system in Iran, which made the illegitimacy of the Baathist regime more apparent than ever before. Therefore, the Iraqi government accused Iran of trying to stage an unsuccessful coup in Iraq and being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Tariq Aziz. They claimed that Iran was seeking to export the Revolution to the other countries in the region, by supporting the Iraqi Shia population. Consequently, Iraq saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime in Iran and the collapse of the security regime of the region as an opportunity to achieve its ambitious goals.

The primary factors for Saddam’s attack on Iran were ideological, nationalist, social, political, territorial, legal, and personal. The first factor was the antagonistic nature of the Baath Party. Due to its ideology and beliefs, the party was taking hostile positions against religion, opposing the Islamic and Shia culture, seeking to undermine the seminary and religious authority in Iraq. They also suppressed the Islamic parties, communities, and movements in Iraq, challenged the Islamic Republic, followed an aggressive policy, pretending to defend Arab nationalism and relying on either the East or the West. The second factor was due to their longstanding animosity towards Iranians and the sectarian divisions resulting from foreign influence and imperialist endeavors. The social, religious, and demographic structure of Iraq constitutes the third factor. Comprising the majority (over 55%) of the country’s population, the Shia community of Iraq has always been in ideological and political conflict with the Baath regime.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, new tensions arose among Kurdish and Shia communities in Iraq. The fourth factor was the pursuit of three major political objectives by Iraqi leaders, which they aimed to achieve by invading Iran: a) gaining greater access to open waters, b) controlling the Persian Gulf region, and c) obtaining leadership of the Arab world.

The fifth factor was Iraq’s territorial claims, including absolute sovereignty over the Arvandrud, occupying of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb islands, the alleged refusal of Iran to give back the Iraqi territories and the disintegration of Iran.

The sixth factor was Iraq’s legal claims to justify the invasion, such as revoking the 1975 Algiers Agreement, claiming that Iran had violated the Agreement, the export of the Revolution, and Iran’s alleged support of the Iraqi combatants and interference in Iraq’s internal affairs. Finally, the seventh factor was Saddam’s ambition and desire to gain more power.

After eight years of war with Iran, Saddam’s army, while failing to achieve its initial objectives and causing much damage to both sides, ended the war by signing United Nations Security Council Resolution 598. This war is known as the longest conventional war of the 20^th century.