After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the start of the Iran Hostage Crisis, Iran fought its neighbor Iraq for eight years. This war—the largest industrialized war since World War II—demonstrated the tenacity and radicalism of Iran’s Islamist regime. In battle, it used controversial human wave attacks that alarmed Western observers. Similar to Japanese soldiers in World War II, Iranian troops appeared unafraid to die. Combined with the angry protests Westerners saw during the Iranian Revolution, as well as Ayatollah Khomeini’s virulent anti-Western rhetoric, this made Iran appear to be a terrible foe. Iraq was viewed more positively in the West, at least until it began aggressive posturing after the Iran-Iraq War…
Setting the Stage: “Discovering” the Middle East
Socially and culturally, the Middle East had little effect on the West until after World War I. Initial American attempts to make inroads in the Middle East, largely in pursuit of oil, were rebuffed by the British. During World War I, much of the Middle East was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which was one of the Central Powers along with Germany. After the Allied Powers won the war, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. The bulk of the empire became the modern nation of Turkey. Britain and France became the Allied powers in charge of the remainder in 1920 with the Treaty of Sèvres.
In the late 1920s, the British finally opened up commerce in the Middle East to competing foreign interests. However, until World War II, the United States largely relied on Britain when it came to any diplomatic issues relating to the region. Thus, news reaching the US from Iraq and Iran was filtered through Britain, such as the Iraqi uprising against British rule in 1920. Most Americans were unfamiliar with the region, with the term “Middle East” coined only in 1902, and were therefore susceptible to popular media depictions of Iraq and Iran as exotic, hostile, and barbaric.
Setting the Stage: Control of Oil During World War II
The Middle East became of great importance for the United States during the early days of World War II. Italy attempted to expand its colonies in North Africa by attacking nearby British colonies. Defeated by the British, Italy was saved by German reinforcements. The German Afrika Korps quickly posed a threat to the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern oil fields. If the Axis Powers could seize these strategic resources, they could greatly fuel their war efforts and limit Allied abilities to enter the Mediterranean Sea from the Indian Ocean.
In April 1941, a new government in Iraq was developing closer ties to the Axis Powers, going so far as to request assistance from Nazi Germany in the event of a British intervention. This discovery, ironically, brought about the British invasion, which sought to keep Iraq’s oil reserves out of German hands. The Anglo-Iraqi War ended on May 31, 1941 with a swift British victory. Three months later, on August 25, 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Iran to keep it from being used as a German base of operations against the USSR—which it had invaded in June—and British India.
Setting the Stage: The Yom Kippur War and Oil Crisis
British and Soviet intervention in Iraq and Iran in 1941 created historic tensions, and British troops remained in Iraq until 1947. In 1948, the creation of Israel in the Middle East as a homeland for the persecuted Jewish people of Europe resulted in Arab protests. In 1948 and 1967, neighboring Arab states attacked Israel, which won both conflicts with ample Western military support. In 1973, the Arab nations tried again in the Yom Kippur War. After initial Israeli counter-attacks failed, the US rushed to provide military aid.
After a US-Soviet peace initiative ended the conflict, the Arab members of OPEC retaliated against American support for Israel in the war by launching an oil embargo. In addition to American distrust of Arab nations, including Iraq, for their hostility toward Israel, the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 heightened tensions. Soaring oil and fuel prices generated much Western anger toward OPEC, with many citizens viewing the Middle East with hostility—their policies were directly hindering many people’s quality of life.
1979: The Iranian Revolution and Hostage Crisis
Although the oil embargo ended in 1974, oil prices remained high. OPEC nations were now seen as powerful but also economically dangerous. In 1977, currents of political change began moving in Iran, which was governed by a pro-Western Shah, or monarch. The Shah had been installed by the United States and Britain in 1953, keeping Iran’s oil fields open to private-sector oil companies from those nations. In the aftermath of the oil embargo, however, many young Iranians were unwilling to tolerate foreign dominance of their country.
Violence erupted in Iran in 1978 as pro-Islamist protesters rose up after newspaper criticism of Ayatollah (religious leader) Ruhollah Khomeini, who had been exiled from Iran. By August, martial law had been declared in major cities, and by the end of December, the Shah was forced to appoint a nationalist prime minister. Only weeks later, Khomeini returned to Iran and began a new Islamist government. That November, thousands of protesters stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took over fifty Americans hostage. After Khomeini’s government refused to return the hostages, the US severed diplomatic ties with Iran in April 1980.
Iran-Iraq War Begins
The United States viewed Iran with intense hostility and thus felt no sympathy when Iran was invaded by neighboring Iraq on September 22, 1980. American hostages from the embassy were still being held, and Iran needed American help to maintain its US-made military equipment from the Shah’s era. Although the US was no fan of Iraq either, with dictator Saddam Hussein considered a state supporter of terrorism, it considered Iran a far greater enemy. Although US President Jimmy Carter had secured the release of the embassy hostages on January 20, 1981, the United States firmly swung its support to Iraq by 1982.
With chaos in the Middle East and in Afghanistan due to the Soviet invasion of December 1979, many Americans viewed Iraq and Iran even more negatively. The entire region seemed rife with war and terrorism, especially against American ally Israel, and the US media largely sided with Israel. This included Israel’s 1981 bombing strike on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, which Israel claimed was being used to prepare a nuclear weapons program. Despite military aid to Iraq, most American leaders disliked Saddam as well as Khomeini and viewed helping Iraq simply as a way to weaken Iran, which was seen as more radical and tenacious.
The Tanker War Renews Oil Crisis Fears
Negative perceptions of both Iraq and Iran in the West deepened as the two nations started targeting each other’s oil infrastructure. The tanker war erupted when Saddam Hussein began targeting commercial vessels coming to supply Iran in the Persian Gulf. Although Iraq was the primary aggressor from 1981 to 1983, Iran began launching its own attacks on commercial vessels in 1984. These attacks sometimes killed civilian sailors, bringing about international criticism and raising fears about disruptions to the oil market.
Much of the exported oil from the Middle East passed through the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, which Iran could target. This brought about direct US naval intervention, as the US escorted oil tankers in 1987-88 in Operation Earnest Will. In turn, this resulted in accidental Iraqi and Iranian strikes on US naval vessels. Although the US did not retaliate militarily and even blamed Iran for provoking an accidental Iraqi strike on an American ship, the strikes further inflamed Western feelings against both warring countries.
The Iran-Contra Affair Highlights Terrorism
As Iraq and Iran fought, terrorist actions continued throughout the Middle East in places like Israel, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. This included taking Westerners hostage. In 1985, seven Americans were being held hostage by Iranian-backed Hezbollah radicals in Lebanon. The terrorists might listen to Iran, which wanted US weapons to fight the ongoing Iran-Iraq War. Thus, the administration of US President Ronald Reagan made a deal: it would supply the weapons in exchange for Hezbollah freeing the hostages.
The money from the arms sales to Iran was funneled to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua, which were banned from receiving US government support under a 1984 law passed by Reagan’s Democratic opponents in Congress. In November 1986, the scheme was revealed by a Lebanese newspaper, sparking the Iran-Contra Affair. Socially and culturally, the affair did nothing to improve Western perceptions of Iran and Iraq but did damage the reputation of Reagan’s administration. Reagan, however, largely avoided political damage by claiming he had no direct knowledge of the illegalities.
Post-War: Posturing Makes Saddam the Bad Guy
In August 1988, the Iran-Iraq War finally ended thanks to the increasing use of chemical weapons. Iraq, bolstered by more chemical weapons and heavy equipment than Iran, finally wore down its tenacious opponent. A UN-backed peace resolution returned both states to their pre-war status from 1980, with no territorial changes. Despite this relative stalemate, Saddam Hussein postured as the victor, especially given (begrudging) support by both the United States and the Soviet Union. However, the eight-year war had created serious economic problems for Saddam, and he began pressuring nearby countries to forgive Iraq’s war debts.
Two years after the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq was headline news across the globe for invading its tiny southern neighbor, Kuwait. Saddam had invaded Kuwait after months of disputes over oil drilling, and he hoped the world would be relatively distracted by the end of the Cold War. Instead, the dictator found himself internationally condemned and targeted by a 24-hour news cycle. Rather than backing down, Saddam claimed his massive army—the fourth largest in the world—could repel any attack. The Gulf War proved him wrong when an international coalition led by former ally, the United States, decimated his forces in just 100 hours.
Early 2000s: Iran and Iraq WMD Programs Renew Fears
The Gulf War made Saddam Hussein an international pariah. Although he was allowed to remain in power after the brief but intense war, Saddam became the poster child for Middle Eastern dictators in Western media. This was to his distinct disadvantage after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, when many Americans viewed all Muslim leaders with distrust. As a previous opponent of the United States, brutal dictator, and mass murderer, Saddam was seen as an ally of the Al Qaeda terrorists who committed the 9/11 attacks.
In 2002, both Saddam Hussein and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were declared part of an Axis of Evil by US President George W. Bush. Both leaders had previously sought to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the past, and the Bush administration initially claimed that they were trying to supply such weapons to terrorists. These WMD programs, both begun during the Iran-Iraq War to target each other, resulted in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. While no evidence of recent WMD programs was found in Iraq after the invasion, some believed that Saddam brought about the invasion by hedging on whether his regime had such weapons…to keep Iran (and other foes) at bay.
Summary: Iran-Iraq War Creates Two Anti-American Powers
Ultimately, the Iran-Iraq War created a geopolitical nightmare by making both Middle Eastern countries military powers. Iraq, aided by most of the West and the Soviet Union, emerged from the eight-year war with the world’s fourth-largest military. This directly led to Saddam Hussein’s unwise decision to conquer Kuwait and then threaten the Western powers that responded. Twelve years later, Iraq was invaded by the US and Britain, resulting in another decade of chaos due to terrorism and insurgencies. In much Western media, this made “Iraq” synonymous with violence and chaos, as well as criticism of American imperialism.
Although Iran had fewer allies in the Iran-Iraq War, it also ended the conflict with a far stronger military. However, unlike Iraq’s mechanized, Soviet-style forces, Iran was now a veteran of precision attacks utilizing a growing domestic arms industry. This new capability, combined with Iran’s continued anti-West rhetoric, made it an enemy of the United States as well—just of a different flavor. Iraq has been largely neutralized as a nation-state but remains a hotbed of terrorism, while Iran is now a powerful, organized foe that is even supplying Russia in its war in Ukraine. Culturally, both Iraq and Iran remain opponents of the US and its allies.
