Editing Iran–Iraq War (section)

===Iran accepts the ceasefire===
{{main|Peace efforts during the Iran–Iraq War}}
Saddam sent a warning to Khomeini in mid-1988, threatening to launch a new and powerful full-scale invasion and attack Iranian cities with [[weapons of mass destruction]]. Shortly afterwards, Iraqi aircraft bombed the Iranian town of [[Oshnavieh]] with poison gas, immediately killing and wounding over 2,000 civilians. The fear of an all-out chemical attack against Iran's largely unprotected civilian population weighed heavily on the Iranian leadership, and they realised that the [[international community]] had no intention of restraining Iraq.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|title=Iran's strategic intentions and capabilities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dsxlDvyDjNAC&pg=PA211|publisher=Diane Publishing|isbn=978-1-4289-9255-9|page=211}}</ref> The lives of the civilian population of Iran were becoming very disrupted, with a third of the urban population evacuating major cities in fear of the seemingly imminent chemical war. Meanwhile, Iraqi conventional bombs and missiles continuously hit towns and cities, destroying vital civilian and military infrastructure, and increasing the death toll. Iran replied with missile and air attacks, but not sufficiently to deter the Iraqis.<ref name=csis10 />

[[File:USS Vincennes launching SM-2MR in 1987.jpg|thumb|upright=.71|''[[USS Vincennes (CG-49)|USS Vincennes]]'' in 1987 a year before it shot down [[Iran Air Flight 655]]]]

With the threat of a new and even more powerful invasion, Commander-in-Chief [[Rafsanjani]] ordered the Iranians to retreat from Haj Omran, Kurdistan on 14 July.<ref name="csis10" /><ref name="dodds09">{{cite journal|title=The Iran–Iraq War: Unattainable Objectives|last1=Dodds|first1=Joanna|last2=Wilson|first2=Ben|date=6 June 2009|journal=Middle East Review of International Affairs|volume=13|url=http://www.gloria-center.org/2009/06/dodds-wilson-2009-06-06/|issue=2|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006121230/http://www.gloria-center.org/2009/06/dodds-wilson-2009-06-06/|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Iranians did not publicly describe this as a retreat, instead calling it a "temporary withdrawal".<ref name=dodds09 /> By July, Iran's army inside Iraq had largely disintegrated.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> Iraq put up a massive display of captured Iranian weapons in Baghdad, claiming they captured 1,298 tanks, 5,550 recoilless rifles, and thousands of other weapons.<ref name="csis10" /> However, Iraq had taken heavy losses as well, and the battles were very costly.<ref name="Woods 2010" />

In July 1988, Iraqi aircraft dropped bombs on the Iranian Kurdish village of Zardan. Dozens of villages, such as [[Sardasht, West Azerbaijan|Sardasht]],<!--Chemical bombing of Sardasht was June 1987.--> and some larger towns, such as [[Marivan]], [[Baneh]] and [[Saqqez]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbw-events.org.uk/EXIQ84Q1.PDF|title=Archived copy|access-date=28 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810111132/http://cbw-events.org.uk/EXIQ84Q1.PDF|archive-date=10 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> were once again attacked with poison gas, resulting in even heavier civilian casualties.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/02/world/iran-reports-new-iraqi-gas-raids-and-says-cities-may-be-hit-next.html|title=Iran Reports New Iraqi Gas Raids; And Says Cities May be Hit Next|website=The New York Times|date=2 April 1988|access-date=5 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007060612/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/02/world/iran-reports-new-iraqi-gas-raids-and-says-cities-may-be-hit-next.html|archive-date=7 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> On 3 July 1988, the USS ''Vincennes'' shot down [[Iran Air Flight 655]], killing 290 passengers and crew. The lack of international sympathy disturbed the Iranian leadership, and they came to the conclusion that the United States was on the verge of waging a full-scale war against them, and that Iraq was on the verge of unleashing its entire chemical arsenal upon their cities.<ref name="books.google.com" />

At this point, elements of the Iranian leadership, led by Rafsanjani (who had initially pushed for the extension of the war), persuaded Khomeini to accept a ceasefire.<ref name=efraimkarsh /> They stated that in order to win the war, Iran's military budget would have to be increased eightfold and the war would last until 1993.<ref name="csis10" /> On 20 July 1988, Iran accepted Resolution 598, showing its willingness to accept a ceasefire.<ref name=efraimkarsh />{{rp|11}} A statement from Khomeini was read out in a radio address, and he expressed deep displeasure and reluctance about accepting the ceasefire,

<blockquote>Happy are those who have departed through martyrdom. Happy are those who have lost their lives in this convoy of light. Unhappy am I that I still survive and have drunk the poisoned chalice...<ref name=efraimkarsh /><ref name=bulloch89 />{{rp|1|date=November 2012}}</blockquote>

The news of the end of the war was greeted with celebration in Baghdad, with people dancing in the streets; in Tehran, however, the end of the war was greeted with a somber mood.<ref name=bulloch89 />{{rp|1|date=November 2012}}

====Operation Mersad and end of the war====
[[Operation Mersad]] ({{lang|fa|مرصاد}} "ambush") was the last big military operation of the war. Both Iran and Iraq had accepted Resolution 598, but despite the ceasefire, after seeing Iraqi victories in the previous months, [[People's Mujahedin of Iran|Mujahadeen-e-Khalq]] (MEK) decided to launch an attack of its own and wished to advance all the way to Tehran. Saddam and the Iraqi high command decided on a two-pronged offensive across the border into central Iran and Iranian Kurdistan.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> Shortly after Iran accepted the ceasefire, the MEK army began its offensive, attacking into Ilam province under cover of Iraqi air power. In the north, Iraq also launched an attack into Iraqi Kurdistan, which was blunted by the Iranians.<ref name="Farrokh 03" />

On 26 July 1988, the MEK started their campaign in central Iran, Operation Forough Javidan (Eternal Light), with the support of the Iraqi army. The Iranians had withdrawn their remaining soldiers to Khuzestan in fear of a new Iraqi invasion attempt, allowing the Mujahedeen to advance rapidly towards [[Kermanshah]], seizing [[Qasr-e Shirin]], [[Sarpol-e Zahab]], [[Kerend-e Gharb]], and [[Eslamabad-e Gharb|Islamabad-e-Gharb]]. The MEK expected the Iranian population to rise up and support their advance; the uprising never materialised but they reached {{convert|145|km|mi|abbr=on}} deep into Iran. In response, the Iranian military launched its counter-attack, [[Operation Mersad]], under Lieutenant General [[Ali Sayyad Shirazi]]. Iranian [[paratroopers]] landed behind the MEK lines while the Iranian Air Force and helicopters launched an air attack, destroying much of the enemy columns.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> The Iranians defeated the MEK in the city of [[Kerend-e Gharb]] on 29 July 1988.<ref name="csis10" /> On 31 July, Iran drove the MEK out of Qasr-e-Shirin and Sarpol Zahab, though MEK claimed to have "voluntarily withdrawn" from the towns.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /><ref name="csis10" /> Iran estimated that 4,500 MEK were killed, while 400 Iranian soldiers died.<ref name="tebyan05">{{cite web|url=http://www.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=27220|title=Mersad operation|date=27 July 2005|publisher=Tebyan|work=Special Edition}}</ref>

[[File:Mujahedin was killed in Operation Mersad by Pasdaran in Kermanshah.jpg|thumb|left|[[People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|MEK]] soldiers killed in Operation Mersad, 1988]]

The last notable combat actions of the war took place on 3 August 1988, in the Persian Gulf when the Iranian navy fired on a [[cargo ship|freighter]] and Iraq launched chemical attacks on Iranian civilians, killing an unknown number of them and wounding 2,300.<ref name="csis10" /> Iraq came under international pressure to curtail further offensives. Resolution 598 became effective on 8 August 1988, ending all combat operations between the two countries.<ref name="dodds09" /> By 20 August 1988, peace with Iran was restored.<ref name="dodds09" /> [[UN peacekeepers]] belonging to the [[UNIIMOG]] mission took the field, remaining on the Iran–Iraq border until 1991. The majority of Western analysts believe that the war had no winners while some believed that Iraq emerged as the victor of the war, based on Iraq's overwhelming successes between April and July 1988.<ref name="Farrokh 03" /> While the war was now over, Iraq spent the rest of August and early September clearing the Kurdish resistance. Using 60,000 troops along with helicopter gunships, chemical weapons (poison gas), and mass executions, Iraq hit 15 villages, killing rebels and civilians, and forced tens of thousands of Kurds to relocate to [[concentration camp|settlements]].<ref name="csis10" /> Many Kurdish civilians fled to Iran. By 3 September 1988, the anti-Kurd campaign ended, and all resistance had been crushed.<ref name="csis10" /> 400 Iraqi soldiers and 50,000–100,000 Kurdish civilians and soldiers had been killed.<ref name="csis10" /><ref name="wong06">{{cite news|last=Wong|first=Edward|title=Hussein charged with genocide in 50,000 deaths|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/world/middleeast/05iraq.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 April 2006|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624093312/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/world/middleeast/05iraq.html|archive-date=24 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the war's conclusion, it took several weeks for the [[Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran]] to evacuate Iraqi territory to honour pre-war international borders set by the [[1975 Algiers Agreement]].<ref name="Farrokh 03">{{cite book|last=Farrokh|first=Kaveh|title=Iran at War: 1500–1988|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-78096-221-4|date=2011}}</ref> The last [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were exchanged in 2003.<ref name="molavi05">{{cite book|last=Molavi|first=Afshin|title=The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=2005|isbn=978-0-393-32597-3|edition=Revised|location=England|page=152}}</ref><ref name=nazila03>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/world/threats-and-responses-briefly-noted-iran-iraq-prisoner-deal.html|work=The New York Times|first=Nazila|last=Fathi|title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran–Iraq Prisoner Deal|date=14 March 2003|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813175245/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/14/world/threats-and-responses-briefly-noted-iran-iraq-prisoner-deal.html|archive-date=13 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Security Council identified Iraq as the [[War of aggression|aggressor]] of the war in 1991.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tarock|first1=Adam|title=The superpowers' involvement in the Iran–Iraq War|date=1998|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|location=Commack, NY|isbn=978-1-56072-593-0|page=208}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Iran_Iraq_War_Legal_and_International_Dimensions.htm|title=Iran–Iraq War: Legal and International Dimensions|work=iranreview.org|access-date=31 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420110303/http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Iran_Iraq_War_Legal_and_International_Dimensions.htm|archive-date=20 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>