In 1985 the Reagan administration began tilting not only toward Iraq but also
toward Iran. This came about because of President Reagan’s concern about the fate of
seven Americans held hostage in Lebanon by guerrilla groups backed by Iran. Robert
C. McFarlane, Reagan’s national security advisor, believed a claim by an Iranian busi-
nessman that he could secure the release of the hostages if the United States sold mis-
siles and military spare parts to Iran. With Reagan’s approval, the United States sup-
plied 2,000 antitank missiles, 18 high-tech antiaircraft missiles, and numerous
shipments of spare parts to Iran between May 1985 and October 1986. White House
officials used the money that Iran paid for these weapons to support the contras, guer-
rillas battling the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Congress had halted U.S.
aid to the contras, so Reagan’s aides devised this illegal means of helping them. The
arms sales secured the release of three of the hostages in Lebanon, but three more
Americans were kidnapped in late 1986.
The administration’s secret dealings with Iran began to come to light in Novem-
ber 1986, when a Lebanese newsmagazine revealed that McFarlane had traveled to
Tehran for negotiations with the government. That disclosure led to public revelations
about the link between the Iranian arms sales and aid to the contras. The Iran-contra
affair developed into a scandal that severely damaged the credibility of the Reagan
administration in its last years.
Major Battles in 1986
On February 11, 1986, Iran launched one of its largest and most important offensives
of the war. Crossing over the Shatt al-Arab at the extreme southeastern tip of Iraq,
Iran’s army easily overran weak Iraqi defenses on the Faw Peninsula and marched north
toward Basra, Iraq’s second largest city. The initial success of this offensive owed much
to intelligence information and the missiles the Reagan administration had provided.
Iran’s army and its volunteer militias were incapable of overcoming Iraq’s defenses
around Basra, however, and the situation evolved into another stalemate, lasting
throughout 1986. Iranian units occupied the Faw Peninsula while Iraq furiously
strengthened its defenses of Basra. Iran attempted one last major assault on Basra in
January 1987, but fell short at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, in part because
of Iraq’s heavy use of chemical weapons against the invading Iranians.
In another important development at this stage of the war, the U.S. military inter-
vened on behalf of Kuwait, a major oil exporter with tankers being targeted by Iran. In
late 1986, Kuwait asked the United States to protect its shipping in the Gulf. The Rea-
gan administration at first hesitated, leading Kuwait to turn for help to the Soviet Union.
This got the attention of the White House, which then agreed to Kuwait’s request. Start-
ing in July 1987, eleven Kuwaiti oil tankers were reflagged as American ships and
escorted in the Gulf by the U.S. Navy. An Iranian antiship missile hit one of the tankers
in Kuwaiti territorial waters in October, leading the United States to retaliate by bomb-
ing an oil platform from which Iran had launched attacks against ships in the Gulf.
UN Resolution
Lasting eight years, the Iran-Iraq War took place in the context of many other major
international developments, including the final stages of the cold war between the
432 IRAQ AND THE GULF WARS