September 1980 The Duel of Despots/ Iran and Iraq

The Duel of Despots/ Iran and Iraq

Hostilities began in September 1980, a year and a half after the fall of the Shah of Iran.

Eight years later, 680,000 people had been killed, including some 100,000 civilians. Nine thousand tanks and armored vehicles, 950 warplanes, 30 naval ships and 72 international commercial vessels had been destroyed. Some $1.1 trillion (double that amount in today’s money) had been spent by the two principals. Their borders did not move an inch, and the two regimes that went into the war emerged from it more firmly entrenched than ever.

Source: The Wall Street Journal. November 12, 2015.