Iraqi offensive
Invasion, Khorramshahr, failure to collapse Tehran.
The 1975 Algiers line and the 1979 revolution are the twin prefaces. Without both, 22 September 1980 is unintelligible.
Calling it the "First Gulf War" in some US usage collides with 1991's name -- this page uses Iran-Iraq War.
Timeline
- Invasion
Iraqi forces cross into Iran; air strikes on airfields.
- Khorramshahr
City falls to Iraq after brutal fighting -- a symbolic first loss for Iran.
- Liberation of Khorramshahr
Iranian recapture; the invasion is mostly reversed. The decision to continue the war follows.
- Tanker war intensifies
Shipping in the Gulf becomes a second front.
- Faw Peninsula
Iran seizes Faw; Iraq later expends heavily to retake it in 1988.
- UN 598
Security Council demands ceasefire; Iraq accepts earlier, Iran later.
- US reflagging
Kuwaiti tankers under US flag; naval clashes with Iran.
- Halabja
Chemical massacre of Kurdish civilians.
- Iran Air 655
USS Vincennes shoots down a civilian airliner; 290 dead.
- Ceasefire
Guns stop under 598; no parade in either capital.
Eras
Iranian choice
Liberation, then war on Iraqi soil; trench lines harden.
Internationalisation
Tankers, missiles on cities, more suppliers.
598 and collapse of hopes
Resolution, Halabja, Faw retaken, Iranian acceptance.
Poisoned peace
POWs, debt, Kuwait 1990 as Iraqi sequel.
Milestones
No knockout
The 1980 invasion failed to do what blitz myths promised.
598 as an ending script
A UN text that both exhausted states could sign.
Halabja
A civilian chemical crime on the record.
20 August 1988 stopped the shooting. It did not restore trust or pay the debt.
Iran Air 655 remains a wound in Iranian public memory of the US role.