A report on Ronald Reagan and Iran–Iraq War

Official portrait, 1981
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
Ronald Reagan's boyhood home in Dixon, Illinois
Meeting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Houari Boumédiène and Saddam Hussein (left to right) during the Algiers Agreement in 1975.
The Bad Man (1941)
Ruhollah Khomeini rose to power after the Iranian Revolution.
Capt. Ronald Reagan at Fort Roach, 1943 or 1944.
Location of Khuzestan Province in Iran which Iraq planned to annex
Guest stars for the premiere of The Dick Powell Show, 1961. Reagan can be seen wearing a ten-gallon hat on the far left.
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.
Reagan testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee, October 1947
The Shatt al-Arab on the Iran–Iraq border
Reagan and his first wife Jane Wyman, 1942
Destroyed Iranian C-47 Skytrain
Wedding of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, 1952. Matron of honor Brenda Marshall (left) and best man William Holden (right) were the sole guests.
Iranian F-14A Tomcats equipped with AIM-54A, AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles.
Nancy and Ronald Reagan aboard a boat in California, 1964
Resistance of the outnumbered and outgunned Iranians in Khorramshahr slowed the Iraqis for a month.
The Reagans meet with President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, July 1970
Iranian president Abulhassan Banisadr on the battlefront
Reagan and President Ford shake hands on the podium after Reagan narrowly lost the nomination at the 1976 Republican National Convention
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi, the leader of MEK and the National Resistance Council of Iran (NCRI) in 1988.
1980 electoral vote results
The surprise attack on H-3 airbase is considered to be one of the most sophisticated air operations of the war.
Ronald Reagan, moderator Jon Breen, and Bush participate in the Nashua, New Hampshire presidential debate, 1980
Iranian soldier holding an IV bag during the Iran–Iraq War
President and Mrs. Reagan at the 1981 inauguration parade
Iranian Northrop F-5 aircraft during Iran-Iraq war
Supreme Court justice-nominee Sandra Day O'Connor talks with Reagan outside the White House, July 15, 1981.
Iraqi T-62 tank wreckage in Khuzestan Province, Iran
Reagan outlines his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in a televised address from the Oval Office, July 1981
Iraqi soldiers surrendering after the Liberation of Khorramshahr
Reagan addresses Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery, April 28, 1981 (a few weeks after surviving the assassination attempt)
Saddam Hussein in 1982
As the first U.S. president invited to speak before the British Parliament (June 8, 1982), Reagan predicted Marxism–Leninism would end up on the "ash heap of history".
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."
Meeting with leaders of the Afghan Mujahideen in the Oval Office, 1983
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.
Reagan with actress Sigourney Weaver and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in 1985. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia supplied money and arms to the anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan.
Furthest ground gains
Reagan (far left) and First Lady Nancy Reagan pay their respects to the 17 American victims of the April 18 attack on the U.S. embassy by Hezbollah in Beirut, 1983
Iranian POWs in 1983 near Tikrit, Iraq
1984 presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state except Mondale's home state of Minnesota; Mondale also carried the District of Columbia.
Iranian child soldier
Reagan is sworn in for a second term as president by Chief Justice Burger in the Capitol rotunda
Iraqi POW who was shot by Iranian troops after they conquered the Iraqi Majnoon oil field in October 1984
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (here with Reagan in 1986) granted the U.S. use of British airbases to launch the Libya attack.
Iranian troops fire 152 mm D-20 howitzer
Reagan (center) receives the Tower Commission Report regarding the Iran-Contra affair in the Cabinet Room with John Tower (left) and Edmund Muskie (right)
Battle of the Marshes Iran front 1983 rest after exchange of fire 152 mm D-20 H
Challenging Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" at the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987
Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort (21 October 1987)
Gorbachev and Reagan sign the INF Treaty at the White House, December 1987
A map indicating the attacks on civilian areas of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait targeted during the "War of the Cities".
The Reagans in Los Angeles, 1992
Iraqi commanders discussing strategy on the battlefront (1986)
The Reagans with a model of USS Ronald Reagan, May 1996
Iranian President Ali Khamenei on the battlefront during the Iran–Iraq War
Reagan lying in state in the Capitol rotunda
Operation Dawn 8 during which Iran captured the Faw Peninsula.
A bronze statue of Reagan standing in the National Statuary Hall Collection
Iranian soldier killed during the Iran–Iraq War with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform
President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev, 1985
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.
Reagan in 1982
Adnan Khairallah, Iraqi Defense Minister, meeting with Iraqi soldiers during the war
Approval ratings for President Reagan (Gallup)
IRGC navy speedboats using swarm tactics
Former President Reagan returns to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush, 1993
An Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask during the Iran–Iraq War.
{{circa}} 1916–17. Pictured from left: Father Jack, older brother Neil, Reagan (with "Dutchboy" haircut), and mother Nelle
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
1920s. As a teenager, in Dixon, Illinois
Iranian soldiers captured during Iraq's 1988 offensives
{{circa|lk=no|1960}}. Hosting General Electric Theater
USS Vincennes in 1987 a year before it shot down Iran Air Flight 655
1976. At his home at Rancho del Cielo
MEK Soldiers killed in Operation Mersad in 1988
1985. His second presidential portrait
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

Foreign affairs dominated his second term, including the bombing of Libya, the Iran–Iraq War, the Iran–Contra affair, and the ongoing Cold War.

- Ronald Reagan

President Ronald Reagan decided that the United States "could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran", and that the United States "would do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq from losing".

- Iran–Iraq War
Official portrait, 1981

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Official portrait, 1989

George H. W. Bush

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American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.

American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.

Official portrait, 1989
George H. W. Bush at his grandfather's house in Kennebunkport, c. 1925
Bush in his Grumman TBF Avenger aboard USS San Jacinto in 1944
Bush in Phillips Academy's 1942 yearbook
Bush, top right, stood with his wife and children, mid-1960s
Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower with Bush
Bush in 1969
Bush greeting then California Governor Ronald Reagan in 1967
Bush as ambassador to the United Nations, 1971
Bush as U.S. Liaison to China, c. 1975
Bush, as CIA Director, listens at a meeting following the assassinations in Beirut of Francis E. Meloy Jr. and Robert O. Waring, 1976
1980 campaign logo
Ronald Reagan, moderator Jon Breen, and Bush participate in the Nashua, New Hampshire, presidential debate, 1980
The Reagan–Bush ticket won the 1980 presidential election with 50.7% of the popular vote and a large majority of the electoral vote
Official portrait of Vice President Bush, 1981
President Ronald Reagan with Bush
Reagan and Bush in a meeting to discuss the United States' invasion of Grenada with a group of bipartisan members of Congress in October 1983
Vice President Bush standing with President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on the New York City waterfront in 1988
1988 campaign logo
John Ashcroft and Vice President Bush campaign in St. Louis, Missouri, 1988
Bush won the 1988 presidential election with 53.4% of the popular vote and a large majority of the electoral vote
Chief Justice William Rehnquist administers the Presidential Oath of Office to George H. W. Bush
Map showing the division of East and West Germany until 1990, with Berlin in yellow
Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev at the Helsinki Summit in 1990
In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved into fifteen independent republics, including Russia (labeled 11)
Iraq (green) invaded Kuwait (orange) in 1990
Bush meets with Robert Gates, General Colin Powell, Secretary Dick Cheney and others about the situation in the Persian Gulf, 1991
From left to right: (standing) President Carlos Salinas, President Bush, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; (seated) Jaime Serra Puche, Carla Hills, and Michael Wilson at the NAFTA Initialing Ceremony, October 1992
Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court in 1991
Bush's approval ratings (red) compared to his disapproval ratings (blue) during his presidency
Bush was defeated in the 1992 presidential election by Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton meeting with former presidents George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter at the White House in September 1993
George and Barbara Bush, 2001
From left to right: George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter
Members of the public pay their respects at the casket of George H. W. Bush lying in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Bush visits NAS JRB during Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, 2005
The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the west campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, 2011

A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 43rd vice president from 1981 to 1989 under Ronald Reagan, in the U.S. House of Representatives, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and as Director of Central Intelligence.

In 1986, the Reagan administration was shaken by a scandal when it was revealed that administration officials had secretly arranged weapon sales to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War.

A BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missile

Iran–Contra affair

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Political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration.

Political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration.

A BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missile
North's mugshot, after his arrest
President Reagan (center) receives the Tower Commission Report in the White House Cabinet Room; John Tower is at left and Edmund Muskie is at right, 1987.

While President Ronald Reagan was a vocal supporter of the Contra cause, the evidence is disputed as to whether he personally authorized the diversion of funds to the Contras.

After Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980, Iran desperately needed weapons and spare parts for its current weapons.

An Iran Air Airbus A300 similar to the aircraft involved in the incident

Iran Air Flight 655

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Scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired by the USS Vincennes , a guided-missile cruiser of the United States Navy.

Scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired by the USS Vincennes , a guided-missile cruiser of the United States Navy.

An Iran Air Airbus A300 similar to the aircraft involved in the incident
USS Vincennes (CG-49) had been deployed to the Persian Gulf on short notice to compensate for the lack of AWACS cover.
Iran Air 655's origination point, destination and approximate shootdown location (not necessarily a direct path)
The combat information center on board USS Vincennes (CG-49)
A missile departs the forward launcher of USS Vincennes during a 1987 exercise. The same launcher was used in Flight 655's downing.
Captain of the USS Vincennes, William C. Rogers III
U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and CJCS Admiral William Crowe brief media at the Pentagon
Newsweek covers for 12 September 1983 (left) and 18 July 1988, illustrating the KAL007 and Iran Air incidents respectively. The caption "Murder in the Air" framed the KAL incident as a deliberate act of war, whereas "Why It Happened" framed the Iran Air incident as a tragic mistake.
Iranian postage stamp issued 11 August 1988

The attack occurred during the Iran–Iraq War, which had been continuing for nearly eight years.

In the days immediately following the incident, President Ronald Reagan issued a written diplomatic note to the Iranian government, expressing deep regret.

Iranian students crowd the U.S. Embassy in Tehran (November 4, 1979)

Iran hostage crisis

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On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized hostages.

On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized hostages.

Iranian students crowd the U.S. Embassy in Tehran (November 4, 1979)
Iran attempted to use the occupation to provide leverage in its demand for the return of the shah to stand trial in Iran
Anticipating the takeover of the embassy, the Americans tried to destroy classified documents in a furnace. The furnace malfunctioned and the staff was forced to use cheap paper shredders. Skilled carpet weavers were later employed to reconstruct the documents.
Two American hostages during the siege of the U.S. Embassy.
Barry Rosen, the embassy's press attaché, was among the hostages. The man on the right holding the briefcase is alleged by some former hostages to be future President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, although he, Iran's government, and the CIA deny this.
An anti-Iranian protest in Washington, D.C., in 1979. The front of the sign reads "Deport all Iranians" and "Get the hell out of my country", and the back reads "Release all Americans now".
A headline in an Islamic Republican newspaper on November 5, 1979, read "Revolutionary occupation of U.S. embassy".
A group photograph of the fifty-two hostages in a Wiesbaden hospital where they spent a few days after their release.
A heckler in Washington, D.C., leans across a police line toward a demonstration of Iranians in August 1980.
Americans expressed gratitude for Canadian efforts to rescue American diplomats during the hostage crisis.
Vice President George H. W. Bush and other VIPs wait to welcome the hostages home.
The hostages disembark Freedom One, an Air Force Boeing C-137 Stratoliner aircraft, upon their return.
A protest in Tehran on November 4, 2015, against the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
The November 2015 protest in Tehran.
Simulation of the first day of the event, 3 November 2016, Tehran
Iran hostage crisis memorial
Operation Eagle Claw remnant in the former embassy
The former US embassy, known as the "espionage den," "den of espionage", and "nest of spies" by the Iranians after the crisis.

In September 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, beginning the Iran–Iraq War.

Political analysts cited the standoff as a major factor in the continuing downfall of Carter's presidency and his landslide loss in the 1980 presidential election; the hostages were formally released into United States custody the day after the signing of the Algiers Accords, just minutes after American President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.