The Iran-Iraq War ended on August 20, 1988
The Iran-Iraq War was a large-scale war that occurred between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s.
For a long time, Iraq and Iran have had complicated contradictions and conflicts. The first is the border dispute. The Shatt-Arab River is 204 kilometers long and serves as the border between the two countries. Both Iraq and Iran claim sovereignty over the Shatt-Arab River. The second is ethnic conflicts. The Arabs, the main ethnic group in Iraq, and the Persians, the main ethnic group in Iran, have had many wars in history and have deep grievances. The two ethnic groups disputed endlessly over the ownership of the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran occupied the three islands in 1971. Ninety-nine percent of the residents of Iran's Khuzestan province are Arabs, and Iraq has long supported the region's Arab movement for autonomy. Both countries also support each other's Kurds against their own governments. The third is religious differences. Both Iraq and Iran are Muslim countries, but the Sunni sect of Islam is in power in Iraq, while the Shia sect controls the political power in Iran.
In March 1975, under the mediation of Algeria, China and Iraq signed the "Algiers Agreement" to resolve the conflict between the two parties. Iraq agreed to designate the 102-kilometer center line of the southern section of the Shatt al-Arab River as The two countries have a water border, and Iran has promised to stop supporting Iraqi Kurdish rebels. However, after February 1979, the conflict between Iran and Iraq intensified again. Since April 1980, border conflicts between Iran and Iran have occurred frequently. On September 17, 1980, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced the abolition of the Algiers Agreement and regained sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab River. On September 22, Iraqi aircraft bombed Iran, and the Iran-Iraq war broke out.
At the beginning of the war, Iraq launched a full-scale offensive. By October 1980, it had captured 10 towns in Iran and controlled more than 20,000 square kilometers of Iranian land. Iran launched a massive counterattack in April 1982 and won the 25-day Battle of the Holy City, recapturing Khorramshahr and other places. On the 6th, the Iraqi army withdrew to the border. Since July, Iranian troops have entered Iraq several times to launch offensives, but have made little progress. On July 20, 1987, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 598 on ceasefire negotiations between Iran and Iraq. Iraq expressed its approval on July 22, but Iran refused to accept it. In the spring of 1988, Iraq began a major counteroffensive, and by July it had recovered all the territory occupied by Iran since 1982. On July 18, 1988, Iran announced its acceptance of Resolution 598. On August 20, Iran and Iraq formally ceased fire. The war between Iraq and Iran is over.
The Iran-Iraq war lasted for eight years, with about 1 million deaths and 1.7 million casualties on both sides. The casualties accounted for 4.5% of the total populations of the two countries. During the war, military expenditures and economic losses on both sides exceeded US$500 billion. The war caused huge losses to both sides and seriously hindered the social and economic development of both countries. At the same time, the war had a major impact on the situation in the Gulf, the Middle East and the world