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Iranian involvement in the Iraq War

This article is about Iran's involvement in the Iraq War, which began in 2003 and ended in 2011. For Iran's involvement in Iraqi politics since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, see Iranian intervention in Iraq (2014–present).
Not to be confused with the Iran–Iraq War, which began in 1980 and ended in 1988.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq, which toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, was the decisive event that allowed Iran to begin exerting an unprecedented level of influence on Iraqi politics.[1] Leveraging the fact that Shia Muslims account for the majority of the population in both countries, the Iranian government used Shia militias to serve Iran's interests during the Iraq War.[2] This culminated in Iran's involvement in the Iraqi insurgency, in which there were instances of Shia militants engaging the Multi-National Force in direct combat.[3][4] Organizations that enjoyed large-scale Iranian support included the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, as well as Kata'ib Hezbollah, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, and the Promised Day Brigade. Since 2007, the United States has employed a "kill or capture" strategy with regard to confronting Iranian operatives in the Iraqi conflict.

Location of the Republic of Iraq (orange) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (green)

Background

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Iran–United States relations

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Main articles: Iran–United States relations and Iran–United States relations after 1979

During a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on 25 September 2001, Iranian president Muhammad Khatami said "Iran fully understands the feelings of the Americans about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11", and that Iranians instead felt differently and had expressed their sympathetic feelings with bereaved Americans.[5] The attacks were condemned by both the President and the Supreme Leader of Iran.[6][7] The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with each other to overthrow the Taliban regime which had conflicts with the government of Iran.[8][9] Iran's Quds Force helped US forces and Afghan rebels in 2001 uprising in Herat.[10]

Months later, in his 2002 State of the Union Address, US President George W. Bush described Iran as being part of an "axis of evil" alongside Iraq and North Korea. Both reformists and conservatives in Iran responded negatively to this characterization, with Masoumeh Ebtekar calling it a "strategic mistake" by the Bush administration.[11] Daniel Heradstveit and G. Matthew Bonham argued that the speech caused a reversal in friendly US–Iranian relations that had developed after the Cold War; the Iranian opposition figures they interviewed saw it as a "betrayal", and widely agreed that it was "a godsend to the conservatives", who favoured a more hostile and militant approach towards the United States.[9]

Several claims have been made that the US has violated Iranian territorial sovereignty through the use of drones since 2003.[12][13]

Iran–Iraq relations

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Main articles: Iran–Iraq relations and Iran–Iraq War
See also: Iraqi chemical attacks against Iran, United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War, and Rationale for the Iraq War

In September 1980, Iraq under Saddam Hussein launched an invasion of Iran in an unsuccessful attempt to annex oil-rich Iranian territory,[14][15]: 261  marking the beginning of a war that would last until 1988.[16] The Iran–Iraq War is regarded as being a major trigger for rising sectarianism in the region, as it was viewed by many as a clash between Sunni Muslims (Ba'athist Iraq and other Arab States)[17][18][19] and the Shia revolutionaries that had taken power in Iran.[20]

In a declassified 1991 report, the CIA estimated that Iran had suffered more than 50,000 casualties from Iraq's use of several chemical weapons,[21] though modern estimates have reached more than 100,000, as the long-term effects continued to cause casualties;[22][23] they also show that the United States was providing reconnaissance intelligence to Iraq around 1987–88, which was then used to launch chemical weapon attacks on Iranian troops, and that the CIA fully knew that chemical weapons would be deployed and sarin and cyclosarin attacks followed.[24] According to Iraqi documents, assistance in developing chemical weapons was obtained from firms in many countries, including the United States.[25]

In January 2002, one year before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, bilateral relations between Iran and Iraq improved significantly when an Iranian delegation, led by Amir Hussein Zamani, visited Iraq for final negotiations to resolve the conflict through talks on issues of prisoners of war and those who went missing in action during the Iran–Iraq War.[26]

Iran and the Iraqi insurgency

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Main article: Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)
Further information: Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) and Iran and state-sponsored terrorism

Iranian aid for Iraqi Shia militias

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In the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iran supported Shi'ite insurgent groups dubbed the Special Groups in Iraq, which were made up by the Mahdi army, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, and the Promised Day Brigade. The U.S. used the Iraqi government to fight these insurgents as a result.[27][28][29][30] A 2008 report by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point based on reports from the interrogations of dozens of captured Shia fighters described an Iranian-run network smuggling Shia fighters into Iran where they received training and weapons before returning to Iraq.[31][32]

According to two unnamed US officials, the Pentagon is examining the possibility that the Karbala provincial headquarters raid was supported by Iranians. In a speech on 31 January 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated that Iran was supporting attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq,[33] and some Iraqis suspect that the raid may have been perpetrated by the Quds Force in retaliation for the detention of five Iranian officials by US forces in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on 11 January.[34][35]

In 2007, tensions increased greatly between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan due to the latter's giving sanctuary to the militant Kurdish secessionist group Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK). According to reports, Iran had been shelling PEJAK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan since 16 August. These tensions further increased with an alleged border incursion on 23 August by Iranian troops who attacked several Kurdish villages killing an unknown number of civilians and militants.[36]

Covert Iranian military involvement

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An estimated 150 Iranian intelligence officers, plus members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are believed to be active inside Iraq at any given time. For more than a year, U.S. troops have detained and recorded fingerprints, photographs, and DNA samples from dozens of suspected Iranian agents in a catch and release program designed to intimidate the Iranian leadership.[37]

Coalition forces also began to target alleged Iranian Quds Force operatives in Iraq, either arresting or killing suspected members. The Bush administration and coalition leaders began to publicly state that Iran was supplying weapons, particularly EFP devices, to Iraqi insurgents and militias although to date have failed to provide any proof for these allegations. Further sanctions on Iranian organizations were also announced by the Bush administration in the autumn of 2007. On 21 November 2007, Lieutenant General James Dubik, who is in charge of training Iraqi security forces, praised Iran for its "contribution to the reduction of violence" in Iraq by upholding its pledge to stop the flow of weapons, explosives, and training of extremists in Iraq.[38]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Glanz, James (2007-01-29). "THE REACH OF WAR; IRANIAN REVEALS PLAN TO EXPAND ROLE INSIDE IRAQ". New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  2. ^ President's Address to the Nation, The White House, January 10, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
  3. ^ "Operations By Iran's Military Mastermind – Business Insider". Business Insider. 9 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Politics and 'Other Means'" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  5. ^ P.I.R.I News Headlines (Tue 80/07/03 A.H.S). The Official Site of the Office of the President of Iran. Official website of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 25 September 2001. Permanent Archived Link. Original page and URL are not available online now. (Website's Homepage at that time (Title: Presidency of The Islamic Republic of Iran, The Official Site))
  6. ^ Corera, Gordon (September 25, 2006). "Iran's gulf of misunderstanding with US". BBC News. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016.
  7. ^ Iran mourns America's dead Time
  8. ^ "34 Years of Getting to No with Iran". Politico. Barbara Slavin. November 19, 2013. Permanent Archived Link. Permanent Archived Link at WebCite. Retrieved and archived on July 4, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Heradstveit, Daniel; Bonham, G. Matthew (2007). "What the Axis of Evil Metaphor Did to Iran". Middle East Journal. 61 (3): 421–440. ISSN 0026-3141.
  10. ^ "Iran helped overthrow Taliban, candidate says". usatoday30.usatoday.com.
  11. ^ "Iran And The Axis Of Evil – Analysis – The Long Reach Of A Speech | Terror And Tehran | FRONTLINE | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
  12. ^ U.S. Uses Drones to Probe Iran For Arms, February 13, 2005, The Washington Post
  13. ^ Iran Protests U.S. Aerial Drones, November 8, 2005, The Washington Post
  14. ^ Hiro, Dilip (2019-02-01). Cold War in the Islamic World: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Struggle for Supremacy. Oxford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-19-005022-1.
  15. ^ Brogan, Patrick (1989). World Conflicts: A Comprehensive Guide to World Strife Since 1945. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-0260-9.
  16. ^ Dodds, Joanna; Wilson, Ben (6 June 2009). "The Iran–Iraq War: Unattainable Objectives". Middle East Review of International Affairs. 13 (2). Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  17. ^ Review, Catholic (2012-01-19). "Iraqi Christians were safer under Saddam". Archdiocese of Baltimore. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  18. ^ "Iraqi Christians want a stronger state and weaker militias – opinion". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 24 April 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  19. ^ "Iraqi Christians' long history". BBC News. 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  20. ^ Faily, Lukman. "Reflecting on the Iran–Iraq War, Thirty Years Later". Archived from the original on 2018-10-31.
  21. ^ Wright, Robin (2008). Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East. New York: Penguin Press. p. 438. ISBN 978-1-59420-111-0.
  22. ^ Rajaee, Farhang, ed. (1993). The Iran-Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0813011776.
  23. ^ Bryant, Terry (2007). History's Greatest War (1st ed.). Chandni Chowk, Delhi: Global Media. ISBN 978-8189940638.
  24. ^ Harris, Shane; Aid, Matthew M. "Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran". ForeignPolicy.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  25. ^ "Iraqi Scientist Reports on German, Other Help for Iraq Chemical Weapons Program". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  26. ^ "Iranian Delegation in Iraq for Talks on POWs, MIAs". People's Daily Online. 9 January 2002. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
  27. ^ "The Evolution of Iran's Special Groups in Iraq". November 2010. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
  28. ^ Mazzetti, Mark (19 October 2008). "Documents Say Iran Aids Militias From Iraq". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  29. ^ "Combating Terrorism Center". Ctc.usma.edu. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  30. ^ Dafna Linzer – Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq Archived 12 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine – The Washington Post
  31. ^ Mazzetti, Mark (19 October 2008). "Documents Say Iran Aids Militias From Iraq". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  32. ^ "Combating Terrorism Center". Ctc.usma.edu. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  33. ^ "Al-Maliki: Iraq won't be battleground for U.S., Iran". CNN. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
  34. ^ "Iran involvement suspected in Karbala compound attack". CNN. 31 January 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
  35. ^ Baer, Robert (30 January 2007). "Are the Iranians Out for Revenge?". Time. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
  36. ^ Collins, Chris; Yaseen Taha (23 August 2007). "Iranians attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq". McClatchy Washington Bureau. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009.
  37. ^ Dafna Linzer – Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq Archived 12 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine – The Washington Post
  38. ^ "US general says Iran helping stop Iraq bloodshed". Agence France-Presse. 21 November 2007. Archived from the original on 27 May 2013.
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