INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF IRAN-IRAQ WAR:

Taking advantage of the political turmoil in his much larger neighbour following the downfall of Irans Shah and his replacement by Ayatollah Khomeinis theocratic regime, the Iraqi dictator thought he could score a quick victory and grab the oil rich, Arabmajority province of Khuzestan. Instead, the struggle became a war of attrition that lasted eight years it became the longest conventional conflict of the twentieth century and cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. Oil production was affected as each country targeted the others oil terminals. Both nations also attacked oil tankers and merchant ships in the Persian Gulf, including those of neutral nations, in an effort to deprive the opponent of trade. Although the war terminated in a military stalemate on Aug. 20, 1988 Khomeini said he drank the cup of poison when he accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations Iran was the effective victor, having withstood the Iraqi aggression with far less modern weaponry than Iraq possessed. Iran also had fought without any allies, while Iraq was supported financially by the Arab Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, was supplied with arms by the Soviet Union, and even received covert help from the United States. As we know, Saddam went on to defeat in the 1991 Gulf War, after having conquered Kuwait, and was finally eliminated altogether by the American invasion of 2003. Iran, on the other hand, despite Khomeinis death in 1989 and some internal opposition in recent years, has gone from strength to strength, geopolitically. Today, ironically, the post-Saddam Iraqi government, led by prime minister Nouri alMaliki, who is, like the Iranians, a Shia Muslim, has become quite close to Tehran. (Saddams Baath Party regime was Sunni-dominated and oppressed the countrys Shia majority.) The even more radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army commands the loyalty of followers in the poorer areas of Baghdad and in the countrys south, is believed to have spent part of the last four years studying to be an ayatollah in Iran. For these reasons, some analysts call Iran the true beneficiary of the American defeat of

Saddam. Iran has also extended its influence in the Arab world, particularly in Lebanon where Hezbollah is its political proxy and Syria. When Irans foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, at the end of August called on the government in Damascus to recognize its peoples legitimate demands, this probably had more effect on Bashar al-Assad than anything Washington says. But Salehi also warned NATO against any temptation to intervene in Syria. Syria is the front-runner in Middle Eastern resistance to Israel and NATO cannot intimidate this country with an attack. Tehran still considers Assads survival a key strategic goal. Iran relies on Syria to help facilitate arming and financing Hezbollah as well as Hamas. And despite denials by current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran is clearly in the process of developing a nuclear capability, and makes no bones about threatening to wipe Israel off the map. Recognizing the Palestinian state is not the last goal. It is only one step forward towards liberating the whole of Palestine, Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University on Aug. 26, International al-Quds Day, according to The Jerusalem Post. In August 1979, Khomeini declared the liberation of Jerusalem (al-Quds in Arabic) a religious duty to all Muslims. In language reminiscent of Nazi rhetoric, Ahmadinejad declared that the Zionist regime is a centre of microbes, a cancer cell and if it exists in one iota of Palestine it will mobilize again and hurt everyone. Three decades after the start of the Middle Easts longest and deadliest 20th century war, Iran has definitely become a major regional power. Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.