Iran -- Iraq War Part of the Persian Gulf Conflicts Participation of child soldiers on Iranian front (top left); Iranian soldier wearing a gas mask (top right); Port quarter view of USS Stark listing to port after being mistakenly struck by an Iraqi warplane (middle left); Pro-Iraq PMOI forces killed in Operation Mersad (middle right); Iraqi prisoners of war after the re-capture of Khorramshahr by Iranians (below left); ZU - 23 - 2 being used by the Iranian Army (below right). Date 22 September 1980 -- 20 August 1988 (7 years, 10 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) Location Iran, Iraq, Persian Gulf Result Stalemate; both sides claim victory Iraqi failure to annex Iranian territories and bolster Arab separatism in Khuzestan Province of Iran Iranian failure to topple Saddam Hussein and destroy Iraqi military power as well as inspire sectarian divide in Iraq United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 Territorial changes "Status quo ante bellum ''; observed by United Nations Iran -- Iraq Military Observer Group based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 619 Belligerents Iran KDP PUK ISCI Support: (show) Islamic Dawa Party Syria China North Korea Libya Israel United States: Iran -- Contra affair (For other forms of foreign support, see here) Iraq PMOI DRFLA KDPI Sudan Support: (show) Soviet Union China France United States United Kingdom Saudi Arabia Kuwait Jordan (For other forms of foreign support, see here) Commanders and leaders Ruhollah Khomeini (Supreme Leader of Iran) Others: (show) Abulhassan Banisadr (President of Iran, initially the commander - in - chief, impeached and ousted in 1981) Mohammad - Ali Rajai (President of Iran, assassinated in 1981) Ali Khamenei (President of Iran) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Head of Parliament and member of Supreme National Defence Council, lately the commander - in - chief) Mohammad - Javad Bahonar (Prime Minister of Iran, assassinated in 1981) Mir - Hossein Mousavi (Prime Minister of Iran) Mostafa Chamran (Minister of Defence, KIA in 1981) Valiollah Fallahi, General (Chief of Staff, killed in plane crash in 1981) Qasem - Ali Zahirnejad, General (Chief of Staff) Mohsen Rezaee (Commander of IRGC) Ali Sayyad Shirazi, Colonel (Commander of Army) Javad Fakoori, General (Commander of Air Force, killed in plane crash in 1981) Massoud Barzani (Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party) Jalal Talabani (Leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) Chenar Faraj (Leader of the Peshmerga) Nawshirwan Mustafa (Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) Mohammed Baqir al - Hakim (Leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) Abdul Aziz al - Hakim (Leader of the ISCI Military Wing) Saddam Hussein (President of Iraq) Others: (show) Ali Hassan al - Majid (General and Iraqi Intelligence Service head) Taha Yassin Ramadan (General and Deputy Party Secretary) Izzat Ibrahim ad - Douri (Deputy chairman, Revolutionary Command Council) Abid Hamid Mahmud (Lieutenant General) Salah Aboud Mahmoud (General) Tariq Aziz (Foreign Minister and Revolutionary Command Council member) Adnan Khairallah (Minister of Defence) Saddam Kamel (Republican Guard commander) Uday Hussein (Son of Saddam Hussein) Qusay Hussein (Son of Saddam Hussein) Maher Abd al - Rashid (General) Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (Leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan) Massoud Rajavi (President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran) Maryam Rajavi (Co-leader of the PMOI) Units involved see order of battle see order of battle Strength At the onset of the war: 110,000 -- 150,000 soldiers, 1,700 -- 2,100 tanks, (500 operable) 1,000 armoured vehicles, 300 operable artillery pieces, 485 fighter - bombers (~ 100 operable), 750 helicopters After Iraq withdrew from Iran in 1982: 350,000 soldiers, 700 tanks, 2,700 armoured vehicles, 400 artillery pieces, 350 aircraft, 700 helicopters early 1988: 600,000 soldiers, 1,000 operable tanks, 800 armoured vehicles, 600 heavy artillery pieces, 60 -- 80 fighter - bombers, 70 -- 90 helicopters At the onset of the war: 200,000 soldiers, 2,800 tanks, 4,000 APCs, 1,400 artillery pieces, 380 fighter - bombers, 350 helicopters After Iraq withdrew from Iran in 1982: 175,000 soldiers, 1,200 tanks, 2,300 armoured vehicles, 400 artillery pieces, 450 aircraft, 180 helicopters At the end of the war: 1,500,000 soldiers, ~ 5,000 tanks, 8,500 -- 10,000 APCs, 6,000 -- 12,000 artillery pieces, 900 fighter - bombers, 1,000 helicopters Casualties and losses 123,220 -- 160,000 KIA and 60,711 MIA (Iranian claim) 200,000 -- 600,000 killed (other estimates) 800,000 killed (Iraqi claim) 320,000 -- 500,000 WIA 40,000 -- 42,875 POW 11,000 -- 16,000 civilian dead Economic loss of US $627 billion 105,000 -- 375,000 killed 250,000 -- 500,000 (other estimates) 400,000 WIA 70,000 POW Economic loss of $561 billion 100,000 + civilians killed on both sides (not including 50,000 -- 100,000 civilians killed in the Al - Anfal campaign) 1 The exact number of Iraqi Shia that fought alongside Iran is unknown. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and Islamic Dawa Party supported Iran during the war. Iran would sometimes organise divisions of Iraqi POWs to fight against Iraq.
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