In 1980, Iran and Iraq became locked in a long and intense war after increased tension between the two nations resulting from the Islamic Revolution. Iran had begun a series of attacks along Iraq’s border, including a particularly strong attack on September 4, 1980 (Murauskaite 1). In response to Iran’s spike in aggression, Iraq began an invasion on September 22, 1980, that is internationally considered to be the start of open warfare (Murauskaite 1). The underlying causes and goals of each nation during this war, however, are more complex than they may appear.
Initially, Iraq was supportive of Iran’s new government following the revolution. This support would not last for long, as Iranian officials began to call for similar revolutions to take place in neighboring countries, including Iraq. This caused a sense of unease and anger within Iraq’s leadership, who wanted to prevent a revolution against Saddam Hussain (Donovan et. al 12). When Iraq invaded on September 22, Hussain publicly maintained that the purpose of the war was to regain 300 square kilometers of land that was surrendered to Iran as part of a 1975 treaty (Murauskaite 1), however, it is likely that Iraq was also focused on suppressing any possibility of a revolution.
Iraq quickly succeeded in capturing the land they had previously surrendered and repeatedly offered cease fire agreements to Iran, who denied them. Iran retaliated, reclaiming almost all of the lost land by 1982 (Murauskaite 1). Iran, however, was still not interested in ending the war and pushed further into Iraqi territory. The governmental situation in Iran at this time was complicated, with both the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in existence as a result of the Islamic Revolution. The Iranian government likely viewed the war as “not simply…an opportunity to export the revolution, but rather a chance to deflect the threat from the army, expand the IRGC, and undermine their internal rivals” (Tabaar 5).
It would not be until 1988 that Iran accepted a cease fire agreement created by the United Nations calling on both countries to return to their original borders (Tabaar 23). It is estimated that one million lives were lost during the conflict, however, both nations have refused to agree on an exact number (Murauskaite 1). As we will see in Persepolis, this war directly impacted the citizens of Iran during a time that was already filled with change.
Works Cited
Donovan, Jerome Denis, et al. “Strategic Interaction and the Iran-Iraq War: Lessons to Learn for Future Engagement?” DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, Sept. 2015, pp. 327–346. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/dome.12070.
Murauskaite, Egle. “Saddam’s Use of Violence against Civilians during the Iran-Iraq War.” Middle East Journal, vol. 70, no. 1, 2016, pp. 47–68., www.jstor.org/stable/43698619.
Tabaar, Mohammad Ayatollahi. “Factional Politics in the Iran-Iraq War.” Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 42, no. 3/4, June 2019, pp. 480–506. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01402390.2017.1347873.
Hi Jacob, great post! It’s super interesting learning about different countries and what the go through to get to where they are today. I didn’t know much about he conflict between Iran and Iraq so learning about the Islamic Revolution more after what I read in Persepolis was intriguing. However interesting this may be, it’s hard to read about all the lives lost and affected because of this conflict between these countries. Even in Persepolis it was clear to see how peoples lives were ruined during the revolution and afterwards based off Marji’s experiences .
Hi Jacob，
You provided specific reasons for the Iran-Iraq war. Your explanation is very clear, which is great! The Iran-Iraq War was cruel to the people in both two countries. The part you tell is also part of the background in the middle of the novel. It is difficult to understand some plots in Persepolis without knowing the background of Iran at the time. And your speech helps us understand the content of this story. I appreciated!
Even though I’ve definitely heard about the conflicts in Iran, I never fully understood the complexity in the situation. This gives a glimmer into how this war has affected the people of Iran and how other nations have dealt with their conflicts, which is something I personally have never looked into or heard about in school. I also never knew that there was an estimated 1 million people who had gotten killed in these wars, which is an insane number.
Hi Jacob-
This was a great post! It really helped identify the conflicts in Iran and subsequently between Iran and Iraq. I had always heard about the unrest there, but I was not fully aware intricacies of these issues and where the stemmed from. It really put into perspective the affect it had on it’s residents. One million deaths is a grave number and really shows the commitment on either side of securing land and borders. This really helped illustrate the stories and occurrences in Persepolis as Iranian families experienced them.
Thank you for this information on the complex situation of the war between Iran and Iraq with the loss of many people in between it. Even with a treaty between the two for land was another part of their war against one another and this was going to be a battle that might have never found a solution until someone stepped in a separated it. From my thought process, I feel like the battle between the two would not have ended so quick due to the interference of the United Nation creating a cease-fire agreement. As well for to see that with war, it brings a lot of unnecessary deaths in the mix of it all, especially when they were figuring out how many lives were lost over a million, both nations refused to agree with that number, which is something that can really affect someone’s point of view of a nation.
Hi Jacob,
Great presentation. After reading your post, I now know about the complexity of the causes and goals of the Iran- Iraq War. From reading your post, I also learned that one million people lost their lives during this conflict! With all of this background information on the Iran- Iraq War, I will be able to have a deeper understanding of Persepolis and understand Satrapi’s message. As Jacob mentioned, there were government issues within Iran and Iraq, which ultimately led to a completion of leadership and fight for control. As we have read in our past works, the desire for power can turn into conflict very fast and that same pattern is evident in the Iran-Iraq War.
Hi Jacob! This is a really great post! You did a wonderful job of introducing the topics and the book for this week. Even though I have read a significant portion of the book already, your post really helped me understand the big events throughout the story. It is important to understand the timeline of events that occurred in order to get the significant meaning out of the book. Great post!
Hi Jacob. Great presentation! Prior to reading this post I knew of the conflicts that occurred between Iran and Iraq but I wasn’t fully aware of why they were happening. I feel that knowing the causes of the conflicts between Iran and Iraq really helps enhance the readers ability to understand what is going on in the book. It is very sad to see how many people had lost their lives in this conflict, and it is also sad to see how heavily it affected its citizens who live there.
Thank you for your post Jacob! This was a very clear explanation for the conflict that developed leading up to and during the Iran-Iraq war. This is a great display of how differing ideology can create conflict, especially when there is an attempt made to spread that ideology. Many groups see it as a threat when different thought processes are being imposed upon them.
Hello, great presentation. I found it very helpful to have this background of the war shared. I hadn’t known all about the war prior to reading this but I thought it gave enough depth to understand the fight and the reason they went to war. Knowing this will definitely make reading Persepolis more understandable. Sharing that both sides were strong headed and didn’t want to agree or surrender anything shows the power of each side along with the huge number of losses due to the war.
Hi Jacob, thank you for the context for this weeks reading! I didn’t know that the Islamic Revolution had such a big impact on the relationships between Iran and Iraq which caused increasing tension between them. Thank you for including the underlying goals and causes for this war. I think knowing the underlying goals and causes makes the tension between Iran and Iraq easier to understand. For example, I didn’t know that Iraq was originally supportive of Iran’s new government or that as Iran urged neighboring countries to have similar revolutions, Iraq withdrew their support to prevent any possibility of a revolution against Saddam Hussain. I think this along with how neither country wanted to surrender from fighting over the land shows how Iran and Iraq both want to have a say over the over. I think the people living in the area of land that Iran and Iraq was fighting over can be seen as subaltern because they had no say or power in the situation of whether or not they were living under the rules and control of Iran or Iraq.
It is amazing and also very sad to see that a million people lost their lives for neither a gain nor a loss of land. Effectively, a million lives were lost for a “tie.” However, there were many other negative consequences for both Iran and Iraq that resulted from this war.
This was a great and insightful presentation Jacob! It is hard to imagine a time where Iran has not been in turmoil because it has been for so long. I was not aware of such a loss of life that resulted because of this. This also shows that neither side was willing to give in to the other, and outside peace treaty help would not have solved much. Again, thank you for the great read, this helped me learn about the history of the Iranian Islamic Revolution.