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A Background of the Relationships Between Iran and Iraq Before the War

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Ayatollah Khomeini Through the Lens of the Iran-Iraq War

Part of the book series: Studies in Iranian Politics ((STIRPO))

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Abstract

This chapter has a threefold aim. First, it offers a background of the relationship between Iran and Iraq. Then, it gives a brief description of the main events of the war. Afterwards, in the final part of this chapter, a background of the whole of this book is provided. However, it is important to note that by no means does this chapter claim to provide a full description of either the relationships between these two countries or the Iran-Iraq war (for the history of the Iran-Iraq war see: Hiro in The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict, Paladin, 1990; Masters in Iranian Studies 24:3–15, 1991; Bakhash in Iran, Iraq, and the Legacies of War, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 11–28, 2004; Razouxand and Elliott in The Iran-Iraq War, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015). Instead, this chapter aims to provide a historical scene in which Khomeini’s discourse was shaped.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chapter 6.

  2. 2.

    Then the King of Iran.

  3. 3.

    In 5 May 1979, to establish order and also to keep an eye on regular army, Khomeini decided to establish a parallel army fully loyal to the revolution and its revolutionary zeal (Razouxand & Elliott, 2015).

  4. 4.

    For instance, country of Islam, the warriors of Islam and the children of Quran.

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Tayebipour, M. (2023). A Background of the Relationships Between Iran and Iraq Before the War. In: Ayatollah Khomeini Through the Lens of the Iran-Iraq War. Studies in Iranian Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14907-8_1

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