The Iran-Iraq War

I mentioned before I was reading an excellent book, Eternal Iran by Patrick Clawson and Michael Rubin. It provides an excellent overview of Iranian history from centuries back to the present.

Here are some snippets from the book on the Iran-Iraq war. It was a horrendous war, and memories of the tremendous losses motivate Iran still.

The same year that the Iran-contra scandal was unfolding saw Iran's war effort flag. In April 1986, frustrated at the continuing stalemate, Khomeini publicly ordered Iranian forces to win the war before the end of the Iranian year, which had just started. Determined to carry out this order, the political leadership overruled military commanders in a series of ill-advised attacks. In September, of 2,000 Revolutionary Guards who set out to sieze an Iraqi offshore oil platform, only 130 even made it to the platform, which the Iraqis easily held. A December assault across the Shatt cost 10,000 Iranians their lives to little avail while Iraq suffered only about 1,000-2,000 dead. The January-February 1987 battle for Basra cost Iran 20,000-30,000 dead for gain of 40 square miles of marsh and flooded date palm fields; the renewed effort in April did even worse. The fighting from December 1986 through April 1987 cost Iran 50,000 dead.
....
In the end, the border dispute was little affected by the war. The conflict cost Iran some 450,000-730,000 dead and another 600,000-1,200,000 wounded; Iraq suffered 150,000-400,000 dead and 400,000-700,000 wounded.