2119923, 1:37 PM ‘Opinion: Why The Iran-Iraq War Matters For The Success OF Maximum Pressure
Opinion: Why The Iran-Iraq War Matters For The Success Of
Maximum Pressure
"Yen radiofarda.comlalopinion-why-the-irar-aq-war-matters-or-the-success-of-maximurn-pressure/30848279.html
i
“War, War until victory” was a popular slogan chanted by revolutionaries in Tehran amid the bloody Iran-
Iraq War (1980-1988). But after years of fighting with no victory in sight, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
the founding father of the Islamic Republic, was forced to settle for a UNSC sponsored ceasefire
resolution which he compared to drinking from “a poisoned chalice.” Seldom has revolutionary Iran
done such a 180-degree shift on a high profile foreign and security policy matter. Accordingly, it has
direct relevance to Washington's current “Maximum Pressure” approach.
‘This September 22, Tehran will mark 40 years since the start of that war, which officials style “the
imposed war” or the “sacred defense.” More so than the Islamic Revolution, the war produced the Islamic
Republic that we know today, including the cadre of elites that currently hold power. While a full
accounting of this monumental conflict — the longest conventional war in the 20" century — and all its
‘wists, turns, and intrigues remains outside the scope of this article, a short chronology is in order.
Initially on the defensive for the first two years of the war, Iran shifted to Traqi territory for a near six-year
offensive in a bid to decapitate Iraq's Ba'athist regime. During this period, the conflict escalated with new
‘weaponry and geography. And for Iran, it internationalized significantly, dragging the U.S. navy into
numerous naval engagements in the Persian Gulf. In the closing months of the conflict, a cocktail of
factors, including but not limited to a growing perception of American resolve to prevent an Iranian
vietory, significant regional and battlefield setbacks, economic deprivation, and the potential for mass
social unrest, all helped facilitate the conclusion of the war which Khomeinie to “bargaining away” his
“aignity... with God.”
Having failed to export its revolution to Iraq, since the war ended, Tehran moved to romanticize the
endeavor, with officials framing it as a “divine promise” and even something that kept their homeland
safe from future wars. Lest we forget, at the time, the confliet allowed revolutionaries to purge domestic
political opponents, consolidate the nascent Islamist regime, establish and support foreign military
proxies, re-start its nuclear program, procure projectiles and associated technology to stand-up its
missile program, and even take-on the United States. But given the high-cost and outsized impact of the
‘war, a new conflict commenced once the shooting stopped. This new struggle featured factional
infighting, finger pointing, seerets, conflicting narratives, and memoirs, all over how the war was
prosecuted, and who to blame for its lackluster end.
Outside a recent rising tide of interest in this conflict by academies, Washington-audiences have only
occasionally noted the war's implications for the present. As I wrote in 2014, the conflict is the best
“international ease study for both war-making and peacemaking with the Islamic Republie.” This
observation was true then, and rings even more true today.
In fact, four times in 2019, which is one year after the restoration of American sanctions previously
waived by the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Iranian officials drew comparisons to the challenges of the present
versus those of the war-era. After Washington cancelled waivers for the purchase of Iranian oil last
psf radiotarda.con/alopinion-nhy-the-ran-raq-war-matlers-or-the-suocess-o-maximum-pressure/30248279.hil 12119923, 1:37 PM ‘Opinion: Why The Iran-Iraq War Matters For The Success OF Maximum Pressure
May, no less than Tranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “During the war we did not have a problem
with our banks, oil sales or imports and exports.” He went on to claim that, “The pressures by enemi
‘war unprecedented in the history of our Islamic revolution.”
Echoing the challenge of oil sales and financial sanctions was Iran's Minister of Oil Bijan Namdar-
‘Zanganeh, who reportedly drew on the war as an analogy in his commentary three times last year. In
February 2019 he claimed, “I was also in war and [ understood war, but these conditions are harder than
war.” In June, he took that one-step further, noting, “The difference between the current-era and the war-
era is that if Saddam didn’t bomb us, we could, at any rate, sell the oil we want... but now, the sale of oil,
supply of ships, the moving of money, and even the buying of many goods has its own conditions.” He
also warned, “We must know what a fierce war we are involved in. If this intensi
is not understood —
which I do not think some people understand or feel — we will suffer due to incorrect assessments.” And
in September, he confessed, “The economic situation
the country today is even more difficult than
during the war,” and, “If we were victorious during the Sacred Defense, it was because of [our] spirit,
faith, and belief, and today we must proceed in the same way.”
Such statements are not to be taken lightly. The Iran-Iraq War represents the quintessence of sacrifice for
‘the ruling regime. While the war is a common reference point, no earthly challenge to the Islamic
Republic is framed as being more intense or defining for Iran, which endured chemical weapons use on
the battlefield and ballistic missile attacks against population centers amid the conflict.
‘Therefore, the above proclamations constitute a rare signal amid the noise generated by Iranian officials
about the efficacy of Washington's current pressure policy. Moreover, any Iranian admission that a
unilateral sanctions regime implemented for less than two years can be more challenging or at least on
par with a conflict that was once called “world war three” is a qualitative data-point about sanctions that
ought not to be ignored.
To translate this economic success into the stated policy goals of the Trump administration, which is a
genuinely comprehensive and improved accord with Iran, Washington must not take its foot off the gas
pedal and continue to pressure Tehran until it is forced to accept a sub-optimal solution in its foreign and
security policy. Put differently, it should replicate the conditions that led to the war's conclusion.
‘None of this is to mean that if Washington wants a broader deal with Iran, it will need to launch a war
with the same devastating implications for human life that the Iran-Iraq War wrought. Quite the contrary.
Nor does it seek to minimize Iran's ability to prosecute a conflict or resist foreign pressure even under
duress. Moreover, it does not aim to downplay the various other factors that contributed to the war's end;
although on objective assessment would surely note that Iranian street protests from 2017-present, the
killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and a wave of regional normalization agreements with
Israel are proof that they are again rearing their head today.
Rather, it is to appreciate what peaceful uses of coercive economic measures can achieve as a national
security tool. After all, almost every mainstream account of the conflict notes that the inability of Tehran
to fund the war effort — and in particular, to procure material on a controversial shopping list prepared by
the then-head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which ineluded atomic weapons — impacted the
war's conclusion,
psf radiotarda.con/alopinion-nhy-the-ran-raq-war-matlers-or-the-suocess-o-maximum-pressure/30248279.hil 2082119923, 1:37 PM ‘Opinion: Why The Iran-Iraq War Matters For The Success OF Maximum Pressure
Four decades since the start of the Tran-Traq War and forty-one years since the inception of the Tslamie
Republic, itis painfully apparent that not all men have their price, But all causes do. Washington must
continue escalating economic pressure on Tehran until Khomeini’s successor and current Iranian
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, decides to reach for his own “poisoned chalice.”
‘The opinions expressed are those ofthe author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Radio Fards.
Behnam Ben Taleblu
Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in
‘Washington D.C., where he covers Iranian political and security issues.
psf radiotarda.con/alopinion-nhy-the-ran-raq-war-matlers-or-the-suocess-o-maximum-pressure/30248279.hil 3