Editing Iran–Iraq War (section)

===Casualties===
The Iran–Iraq War was the deadliest conventional war ever fought between regular armies of developing countries.<ref name="Fürtig" /> [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] states: "Estimates of total casualties range from 1,000,000 to twice that number. The number killed on both sides was perhaps 500,000, with Iran suffering the greatest losses."<ref name="Britannica Iran–Iraq War"/> Iraqi casualties are estimated at 105,000–200,000 killed,<ref name="hiro205" /><ref name="PotterSick2006" /><ref name="Karsh2002" /><ref name="KochLong1997" /> while about 400,000 had been wounded and some 70,000 taken prisoner.<ref name="Mikaberidze2011" /><ref name="Karsh2002" /> Thousands of civilians on both sides died in air raids and ballistic missile attacks.<ref name="AggrPolitics" /> Prisoners taken by both countries began to be released on 17 August 1990, though some were not released until more than 10 years after the end of the conflict.<ref name="molavi05" /> Cities on both sides had also been considerably damaged. While revolutionary Iran had been bloodied, Iraq was left with a large military and was a [[regional power]], albeit with severe debt, financial problems, and labour shortages.<ref name="Dunn 1998" />

According to Iranian government sources, the war cost Iran an estimated 200,000–220,000 killed,<ref name="hiro205" /><ref name="Abrahamian2008" /><ref name="Mikaberidze2011" /><ref name="PotterSick2006" /> or up to 262,000 according to the conservative Western estimates.<ref name="hiro205" /><ref name="Rajaee1997" /> This includes 123,220 combatants,<ref name="hiro205" /><ref name="Abrahamian2008" /> 60,711 [[Missing in action|MIA]]<ref name="hiro205" /> and 11,000–16,000 [[Civilian casualties|civilians]].<ref name="hiro205" /><ref name="Abrahamian2008" /> Combatants include 79,664 members of the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Revolutionary Guard Corps]] and additional 35,170 soldiers from [[Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran|regular military]].<ref name="Abrahamian2008" /> In addition, [[prisoners of war]] accounted for 42,875 Iranian casualties, captured and kept in Iraqi detention centres from 2.5 to more than 15 years after the war was over.<ref name="Zargar2012" />

According to the Janbazan Affairs Organization, 398,587 Iranians sustained injuries that required prolonged medical and health care following primary treatment, including 52,195 (13%) injured due to the exposure to [[chemical warfare]] agents. From 1980 to 2012, 218,867 Iranians died due to war injuries and the mean age of combatants was 23 years old. This includes 33,430 civilians (15% of all fatalities), mostly women and children. More than 144,000 Iranian children were orphaned as a consequence of these deaths.<ref name="Zargar2012" /> On average, 70 people were killed in Iran daily, whereas in addition 1,400 people died from landmines between 1988 and 2003.<ref>{{cite journal| journal=Archives of Iranian Medicine Journal |year=2013 |volume=16 |issue=9 |page=542-550 |title=Mortality and injuries among Iranians in Iraq-Iran war: a systematic review |first1=Payman |last1=Salamati |first2=Seyed Mansour |last2=Razavi |first3=Farhad |last3=Shokraneh |first4=Saman Mohazzab |last4=Torabi| PMID=23981159 |s2cid=35488378 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256188005_Mortality_and_Injuries_among_Iranians_in_Iraq-Iran_War_A_Systematic_Review}}</ref> Other estimates put Iranian casualties up to 600,000.<ref name="Dunnigan 1991" /><ref name="Twentieth Century World History 1997" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="Chirot, Daniel 1994" /><ref>Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century (1996), pp. 134–135</ref><ref>War Annual: The World in Conflict [year] War Annual [number].</ref><ref>"B&J": Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, ''International Conflict: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management 1945–1995'' (1997), p. 195</ref>

Both Iraq and Iran manipulated loss figures to suit their purposes. At the same time, Western analysts accepted improbable estimates.<ref name="PelletiereJohnson1990">{{cite book|last1=Pelletiere|first1=Stephen C.|last2=Johnson|first2=Douglas V.|title=Lessons Learned: Iran–Iraq War|series=Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication|issue=3–203|publisher=[[U.S. Marine Corps]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=10 December 1990|pages=117–119|url=https://fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/docs/3203/appf.pdf|oclc=37998429|access-date=2 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103065353/http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/docs/3203/appf.pdf|archive-date=3 November 2013}}</ref> By April 1988, such casualties were estimated at between 150,000 and 340,000 Iraqis dead, and 450,000 to 730,000 Iranians.<ref name="PelletiereJohnson1990" /> Shortly after the end of the war, it was thought that Iran suffered even more than a million dead.<ref name="Abrahamian2008" /> Considering the style of fighting on the ground and the fact that neither side penetrated deeply into the other's territory, [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]] analysts believed events do not substantiate the high casualties claimed.<ref name="PelletiereJohnson1990" /> The [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraqi government]] has claimed 800,000 Iranians were killed in action, four times more than Iranian official figures,<ref name="hiro205" /> whereas Iraqi intelligence privately put the number at 228,000–258,000 in August 1986.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray|first1=Williamson|last2=Woods|first2=Kevin M.|title=The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History|chapter=1987–1988: An end in sight?|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2014|isbn=978-1107062290|pages=300–301 (e-book, page numbers approximate)}}</ref> Iraqi losses were also revised downwards over time.<ref name="KochLong1997" />