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The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88

ed. Moreover, the Shia branch of Islam, though a minority in most of the Islamic world, gradually became the majority in Iran. In the 16th century, Iranian Shiism was institutionalized under the Safavi shahs, while at about the same time Mesopotamia was brought under the rule of the Sunni Ottoman sultans.

The modern era in this region may be regarded as beginning with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. What at that time was still called Mesopotamia was apportioned to Britain. Iraq became quasi-independent in 1921, but British influence remained dominant, as it was in Iran. However, the negotiation framework of the specific boundary dispute along the Shatt-al-Arab goes back a few years previously, to the Constantinople Protocol of 1913, negotiated between the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Russia, and Britain, had defined navigation right in the Shatt-al-Arab in a way that ceded several islands to (British-influenced) Iran.

The Protocol also specified that the thalweg -- the centerline of the deepest navigation channel -- should be the international boundary (Hiro, 1991, pp. 9-10). In the aftermath of the war, however, the British helped themselves to the entire river channel, which they then passed on to semi-independent Iraq. In a 1937 treaty, however, Iraq conceded the thalweg principle for a stretch of the river opposite Iran's large Abadan oil terminal, though it later claimed to have signed the treaty under duress. In 1975, amid rising tensions, Iraq would concede the thalweg principle for the entire length of the river, but again would subsequently claim to have signed under duress (Hiro, 1991, pp. 10; 17). In 1980, hoping to capitalize on the turmoil of the Iranian Revolution, Iraq demanded renegotiation of the 1975 agreement. When Iran refused, Iraq went to war.

Two models of international conflict will be tested in the discussion below. One, a neorealist model typified by Schelling and F...

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The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687407.html