Class Notes 3/26

Social Effects

• 1,000,000 dead
• 400,000 Iraqis, 500,000 - 600,000 Iranians
• Iran and Iraq still hate each other
• Continuing religious conflict between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims
• Kurds in the North hate Saddam Hussein after gas attacks in 1988
• Hatred by Iran toward the USA ("Great Satan"), which supported Iraq in the war and shot down an Iranian passenger plane (290 dead)

Economic Effects

• Both economies destroyed
• Iraq $70 billion in debt
• Iran increases trade with USSR

Political/Foreign Policy Effects

• No major territorial changes
• Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini remain in power
• Iraq invades Kuwait on August 2, 1990, hoping to regain lost wealth and control Kuwait's oil resources
• Beginning of a strong US military presence in the Persian Gulf region (1987-2010)
• Iran and Russia/USSR develop closer relations
  
• Iran gains nuclear technology from Russia