War in the Gulf

It is tempting to portray the Iraq-Iran conflict predominantly in terms of a recent manifestation of a historical enmity between the Arabs and the Persians. Or, and indeed as well, a religious and political struggle between Sunni and Shi’a. But both descriptions are misleading and incomplete. This was a thoroughly modern interstate war for thoroughly modern reasons of national interest and regional hegemony in which ideology, ethnic rivalries and religious fervour played their part but were not central to the main issues.