A report on Iran–Iraq War and Basij

Top-left to bottom-right: Iranian child soldier on the frontlines

Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks

Port quarter view of the USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane

Pro-Iraq MEK forces killed during Iran's Operation Mersad

Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces

ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun being used by the Iranian Army
Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.
Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.
Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex
Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr, who was also commander-in-chief, on a Jeep-mounted 106mm recoilless anti-tank gun. Banisadr was impeached in June 1981.
The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border
Destroyed Iranian C-47 Skytrain
Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.
Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.
Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.
The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.
Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War
Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war
Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran
Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr
Saddam Hussein in 1982
An admonitory declaration issued from the Iraqi government in order to warn Iranian troops in the Iran–Iraq War. The statement says: "Hey Iranians! No one has been downtrodden in the country where Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib, Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali are buried. Iraq has undoubtedly been an honorable country. All refugees are precious. Anyone who wants to live in exile can choose Iraq freely. We, the Sons of Iraq, have been ambushing foreign aggressors. The enemies who plan to assault Iraq will be disfavoured by God in this world and the hereafter. Be careful of attacking Iraq and Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib! If you surrender, you might be in peace."
95,000 Iranian child soldiers were made casualties during the Iran–Iraq War, mostly between the ages of 16 and 17, with a few younger.
Furthest ground gains
Iranian POWs in 1983 near Tikrit, Iraq
Iranian child soldier
Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984
Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer
Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H
Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)
A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".
Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)
Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War
Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.
Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform
The People's Mujahedin of Iran, supported by Saddam, started a ten-day operation after both the Iranian and Iraqi governments accepted UN Resolution 598. Casualty estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.
Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war
IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.
The Iranian frigate IS Sahand burns after being hit by 20 U.S. air launched missiles and bombs, killing a third of the crew, April 1988
Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives
USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655
MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988
Al-Shaheed Monument in Baghdad was erected to commemorate the fallen Iraqi soldiers during the war.
Iranian Martyr Cemetery in Isfahan
Iranian Martyrs Museum in Tehran
An Iranian soldier's funeral in Mashhad, 2013
An Iraqi Mil Mi-24 on display at the military museum of Sa'dabad Palace in Iran
President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush work in the Oval Office of the White House, 20 July 1984.
USS Stark (FFG-31) listing following two hits by Exocet missiles.
Victims of the 1987 chemical attack on Sardasht, West Azerbaijan, Iran
Damage to a mosque in Khoramshahr, Iran, the city that was invaded by Iraq in September 1980

A paramilitary volunteer militia established in Iran in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian Revolution, the organization originally consisted of civilian volunteers who were urged by Khomeini to fight in the Iran–Iraq War.

- Basij

Another paramilitary militia was founded in response to the invasion, the "Army of 20 Million", commonly known as the Basij.

- Iran–Iraq War
Top-left to bottom-right: Iranian child soldier on the frontlines

Iranian soldier in a trench wearing a gas mask to guard against Iraqi chemical attacks

Port quarter view of the USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane

Pro-Iraq MEK forces killed during Iran's Operation Mersad

Iraqi prisoners of war after the recapture of Khorramshahr by Iranian forces

ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun being used by the Iranian Army

6 related topics with Alpha

Overall

Iran

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Country in Western Asia.

Country in Western Asia.

Inscription of Ardeshir Babakan (r. 224–242) in Naqsh-e Rostam: "This is the figure of Mazdaworshiper, the lord Ardashir, Shahanshah of Iran..."
An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse:"Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of Greater Iran and the world-conquerer king."
A cave painting in Doushe cave, Lorestan, from the 8th millennium BC
A bas-relief at Persepolis, depicting the united Medes and Persians
Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in Pasargadae
The Achaemenid Empire (550 BC–330 BC) around the time of Darius the Great and Xerxes I
The Parthian Empire (247 BC–224 AD) in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of Mithridates II
Tomb of Hafez, a medieval Persian poet whose works are regarded as a pinnacle in Persian literature and have left a considerable mark on later Western writers, most notably Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, and Emerson
Venetian portrait, kept at the Uffizi, of Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire
A portrait of AbbasI, the powerful, pragmatic Safavid ruler who reinforced Iran's military, political, and economic power
Statue of Nader Shah, the first Afsharid ruler of Iran, at his Tomb
A map showing the 19th-century northwestern borders of Iran, comprising modern-day eastern Georgia, Dagestan, Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, before being ceded to the neighboring Russian Empire by the Russo-Iranian wars
The first national Iranian Parliament was established in 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution
Reza Shah, the first Pahlavi king of Iran, in military uniform
The Allied "Big Three" at the 1943 Tehran Conference.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial Family during the coronation ceremony of the Shah of Iran in 1967.
Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran on 1February 1979
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask on the front-line during the Iran–Iraq War
The Green Movement's Silent Demonstration during the 2009–10 Iranian election protests
The 2017–18 Iranian protests were initiated on 31 December 2017 and continued for months.
Mount Damavand, Iran's highest point, is located in Amol, Mazenderan.
Persian leopard, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Iran's most populated cities (2010)
Iran's syncretic political system combines elements of an Islamic theocracy with vetted democracy.
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping on 23 January 2016. Iran and China are strategic allies.
Ali Khamenei voting in the 2017 presidential election
Iranian former President Hassan Rouhani meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Iran and Russia are strategic allies.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly, also known as the Iranian Parliament
Protest against U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Tehran, 11 December 2017.
Sophisticated indigenous long range missile system Bavar-373 paraded in Tehran.
Iran's provinces by their contribution to national GDP (2014)
Historical GDP per capita development
A proportional representation of Iran exports, 2019
More than a million tourists visit Kish Island each year.
Iran holds 10% of the world's proven oil reserves and 15% of its gas. It is OPEC's second largest exporter and the world's 7th largest oil producer.
Literacy rate of Iran's population plus 15, 1975–2015, according to UNESCO Institute of Statistics
Sharif University of Technology is one of Iran's most prestigious higher education institutions.
The production line for AryoSeven at the Iranian biopharmaceutical company of AryoGen
Simorgh launch, Iranian Space Agency
Iran's population growth (1880–2016)
Iran's provinces by population density (2013)
Iron Age gold cup from Marlik, kept at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kamal-ol-Molk's Mirror Hall, often considered a starting point in Iranian modern art
Tomb of the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi, author of Šāhnāme, the classical Persian composition of the Iranian national epics, in Tus
Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, depicted on Raphael's The School of Athens
Karna, an ancient Iranian musical instrument from the 6th century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum
The Roudaki Hall, constructed between 1957 and 1967 in Tehran
Reproduction of the 3rd-millennium BC goblet from southeastern Iran, possibly the world's oldest example of animation.
Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016), an acclaimed Iranian film director
Behrouz Vossoughi, a well-known Iranian actor who has appeared in more than 90 films
Haft-Seen, a customary of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year
Chelow kabab (rice and kebab), one of Iran's national dishes
Skiers at the Dizin Ski Resort
The Azadi Stadium in Tehran is West Asia's largest football stadium.
Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, meeting with his counterpart, China's paramount leader Xi Jinping on 23 January 2016. Iran and China are strategic allies.
An Iranian tea tray served near Garden of Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur

On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War.

The government of Iran has a paramilitary, volunteer militia force within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, called the Basij, which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed members.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

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Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic who was the fourth president of Iran from 3 August 1989 until 3 August 1997.

Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic who was the fourth president of Iran from 3 August 1989 until 3 August 1997.

Hashemi as parliament chairman in the inauguration of Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Rafsanjani as the chairman of the parliament with future President Mohammad Khatami
Rafsanjani with newly elected Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, 1989
Hashemi with some Iranian commanders of Iran–Iraq War
Hashemi meeting with former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
Hashemi supporters in the 2005 election
Rafsanjani in Eid al-Fitr prayer, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sitting at his side
Hashemi with one of the protest leaders, Mehdi Karroubi
Hashemi announcing his candidacy with his daughter, Fatemeh accompanied him.
The names of the victims appear in the commemorative plaque in front of Mykonos restaurant in Berlin
Rafsanjani beside revolution leader Ruhollah Khomeini, announcing the appointment of Mehdi Bazargan as revolution's interim government prime minister.
Hashemi casting his vote in 2013 presidential election
Hashemi speaking as his wife, Effat listens.
Rafsanjani speaking with the media after the first assassination attempt

During his 40-year tenure, Rafsanjani amassed a large amount of power serving as the speaker of parliament, Commander-in-Chief during the Iran–Iraq War, President, and chose Ali Khamenei as the supreme leader of Iran.

His daughter was arrested on 21 June by plain clothes Basij during the subsequent protest and later sentenced to six months in jail on charges of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

Mass demonstrations at College Bridge, Tehran

Iranian Revolution

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Series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt.

Series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the replacement of his government with an Islamic republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a leader of one of the factions in the revolt.

Mass demonstrations at College Bridge, Tehran
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi official coronation photo 1967
Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (revolutionary leader).
People of Tehran in the demonstrations of 5 June 1963 with pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini in their hands
Two armed militants outside the Embassy of the United States, Tehran where diplomats are held hostage. Behind of them is a banner written: "Long live anti-imperialism and democratic forces". Photograph by Abbas, dated 1979, from the Iran Diary series
The Shah of Iran (left) meeting with members of the U.S. government: Alfred Atherton, William Sullivan, Cyrus Vance, Jimmy Carter, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, 1977
Pro-Shah demonstration organized by the Resurgence Party in Tabriz, April 1978
Demonstration of 8 September 1978. The placard reads, "We want an Islamic government, led by Imam Khomeini".
Demonstration of "Black Friday" (8 September 1978)
Victims of Black Friday
Ayatollah Khomeini in Neauphle-le-Château surrounded by journalists
Mohammad Beheshti in the Tehran Ashura demonstration, 11 December 1978
"The Shah is Gone" —headline of Iranian newspaper Ettela'at, 16 January 1979, when the last monarch of Iran left the country.
A protester giving flowers to an army officer
Shah and his wife, Shahbanu Farah leaving Iran on 16 January 1979
Cartoon depicting Shapour Bakhtiar and Mosaddegh on 22 January 1978 issue of Ettela'at, during the revolution
Iranian prime minister Mehdi Bazargan was an advocate of democracy and civil rights. He also opposed the cultural revolution and US embassy takeover.
Iranian armed rebels during the revolution
Iranian women protesting
Khomeini told questioners that "the religious dignitaries do not want to rule."
A revolutionary firing squad in 1979
Executed Generals of Imperial Army: Reza Naji, Mehdi Rahimi, and Manouchehr Khosrodad
Kazem Shariatmadari and Khomeini
Banisadr in 1980
People celebrating anniversary of the revolution in Mashhad in 2014.
An injured revolutionary during protests against Pahlavi regime.
Protests in summer 1978.
Revolutionary victims.
Current Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei in a Revolutionary protest in Mashhad.
Shah visiting Bakhtiar cabinet before his exit from Iran.
People celebrating Shah's exit from the country.
Removal of Shah's statue by the people in University of Tehran.
Khomeini at Mehrabad Airport.
People accompanying Khomeini from Mehrabad to Behesht Zahra.
Khomeini in Behesht Zahra.
Khomeini before a speech at Alavi school.

At the same time, events that made up both the crisis and its resolution were the Iran hostage crisis, the invasion of Iran by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and the presidency of Abolhassan Banisadr.

Serving under the Pasdaran were/are the Baseej-e Mostaz'afin, ("Oppressed Mobilization") volunteers in everything from earthquake emergency management to attacking opposition demonstrators and newspaper offices.

Seal of IRGC

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

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Branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, founded after the Iranian Revolution on 22 April 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Seal of IRGC
IRGC's naval special forces, S.N.S.F.
IRGC tank in 2012 military parade in Tehran
Qiam (left) and Sejjil 2 (right) ballistic missiles in a 2012 exhibition
One of the various types of fast attack craft used by the IRGC

It also controls the paramilitary Basij militia which has about 90,000 active personnel.

Among the dead was General Ahmad Kazemi, the IRGC ground forces commander, and Iran–Iraq War veteran.

Mousavi in 2009

Mir-Hossein Mousavi

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Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989.

Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the forty-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989.

Mousavi in 2009
Mousavi with Mostafa Chamran, 1970's
Mousavi (first from right, sitting) as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar, 1981
Mousavi (right) with then-President Ali Khamenei (left)
Mousavi and Abbas Mirza Abutalebi during the Iran–Iraq War
Mousavi with Mohammad Khatami, then Culture Minister, and the next President in 1985
The Hafte Tir bombing victims' mausoleum, which is designed by Mousavi
Mousavi supporters in Tehran
Mousavi speaking in Zanjan during presidential campaign
Mousavi at the protests of 2009

However, an escalation in conflicts between the two led to Mousavi's resignation shortly after the end of the Iran–Iraq War in 1988.

Large numbers of protesters were arrested, and several were killed by the police and militia forces Basij.

French infantry charging in 1913

Human wave attack

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Offensive infantry tactic in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun and overwhelm the defenders by engaging in melee combat.

Offensive infantry tactic in which an attacker conducts an unprotected frontal assault with densely concentrated infantry formations against the enemy line, intended to overrun and overwhelm the defenders by engaging in melee combat.

French infantry charging in 1913

Human wave attacks have been used by several armed forces around the world, including European and American armies during the American Civil War and World War I, the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the Korean War, Vietnamese forces during the Indochina Wars, and the Iranian Basij during the Iran–Iraq War.