ABSTRACT
The Iran-Iraq war may be the bloodiest international conflict since World War II, Resistant to all negotiating efforts since its start in September-October 1980, the conflict has posed unique challenges to would-be mediators and tremendous threats to regional stability. Underlying the war are long-standing enmities and disputes: friction between Arabs and Persians and between Sunni and Shia Moslems, disagreements over the boundary line in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, and conflicting political systems and different international orientations during the era of the Shah of Iran. This chapter discusses the motives of the war, the four distinct phases through which the war passed by, the effect of the war on neighboring countries and on the Soviet Union and the United States, and the potential for further escalation of the war. It also discusses the role of the United Nations as a potential mediator and the various possibilities for managing the conflict.
