Modern wars · 1980 to 1988
Iran-Iraq War
Eight years of trench warfare, missiles and chemical weapons left hundreds of thousands dead, with no change to the border.
Key facts
- When
- 1980 to 1988
- Where
- Khorramshahr and the Shatt al-Arab
- Sides
- Iraq vs Iran
- Commanders
- Saddam Hussein vs Ayatollah Khomeini
- Result
- Stalemate
- Type
- Modern wars
- Chapter
- 7. The Modern Muslim World
The wider picture: Nation states and modern wars
Most Muslim lands won independence between the 1920s and the 1960s. Since then the region has seen more war than almost anywhere else: Israel's wars with its neighbours, two Afghan wars, the Iran Iraq war, American wars in Iraq, civil wars in Syria and Yemen, and in 2026 a war on Iran.
More modern wars battles
- Indo-Pakistani War of 19651965
- Six-Day War1967
- Indo-Pakistani War of 19711971
- October War (Ramadan War)1973
- Soviet War in Afghanistan1979 to 1989
- Gulf War1990 to 1991
- Kargil War1999
- US War in Afghanistan2001 to 2021
All 18 modern wars in the muslim world battles · Battle explorer
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