📅 29 September 1981
The closing phase of Operation Samen ol-A’emmeh restored access to Abadan and drove Iraqi units away from the eastern bank of the Karun River. The breakthrough was an important Iranian defensive...
📅 1 October 1982
Iran opened a new offensive on the central front. The assault sought to pressure Iraqi positions after Iran’s decision to carry the war across the border; it also reflected disagreement within Iran...
📅 1 November 1982
Iran launched another offensive on the southern-central front. The operation formed part of a shift from expelling Iraqi forces from Iranian territory to applying pressure inside Iraq, a strategic...
📅 11 November 1982
The campaign produced only small gains at heavy cost. Its outcome illustrated the growing difficulty Iran faced in attacking prepared Iraqi defenses and the widening gap between revolutionary...
📅 6 February 1983
Iranian forces opened an offensive in the southern sector. The operation sought to break Iraqi defenses but failed, demonstrating that Iran’s post-1982 cross-border offensives faced formidable...
📅 16 February 1983
The offensive in the Musian area concluded without achieving its principal objective. Iran continued to mobilize volunteers and conduct repeated offensives, while Iraq increasingly relied on defensive...
📅 10 April 1983
Iran began a central-front offensive near Amara. It was one of several 1983 operations that attempted to penetrate Iraqi territory but made no decisive change to the front, adding to the war’s...
📅 30 July 1983
Iranian forces launched an operation in the Mehran region after advancing in the Kurdish sector earlier that month. The separate July operation failed to secure its objectives and reflected Iran’s...
📅 20 October 1983
Iran launched an offensive in the northern sector, penetrating several kilometres into Iraq. The operation involved terrain and supply challenges different from the southern front and demonstrated the...
📅 21 November 1983
Iranian forces ended the northern offensive after advancing a few kilometres into Iraq. The limited result underlined the operational difficulty of holding gains far from supply lines and the...
📅 15 February 1984
Iran launched two linked offensives along a broad front between Mehran and Bostan. The attacks aimed to stretch Iraqi defenses and secure strategic ground; they formed part of a costly cycle of...
📅 24 February 1984
The linked offensives ended after a large-scale advance along the central front. Their limited results contrasted with Iran’s simultaneous major push toward Basra and the Majnoon Islands, illustrating...
📅 19 March 1984
The Iranian offensive toward Basra did not achieve its main strategic objective, but Iranian forces retained parts of the Majnoon Islands. The result created a contested island front and prompted...
📅 18 October 1984
The limited offensive marked a renewed Iranian attempt to improve positions without the scale of earlier assaults. It took place amid continued attacks on shipping and oil infrastructure, tying the...
📅 11 March 1985
Iran opened a major offensive intended to threaten the Basra region and cross the Tigris. The operation combined regular forces and revolutionary formations but faced entrenched Iraqi defenses and...
📅 23 March 1985
Iranian forces did not achieve the operation’s central objective. The offensive showed both the capacity of Iran to mount large attacks and the heavy losses involved in trying to penetrate Iraq’s...
📅 14 February 1986
Iran launched a separate operation in the Kurdish sector, distinct from the 1983 operation with the same name. The campaign sought to exploit difficult mountain terrain, but the northern front...
📅 3 March 1986
The operation concluded without a decisive outcome. Iran’s simultaneous offensives across different sectors spread Iraqi forces but also strained Iranian logistics and manpower.
📅 30 June 1986
Iranian forces launched an offensive around Mehran, a town that had changed hands during the war. The operation reflected the continued strategic importance of border towns and Iran’s effort to answer...
📅 9 July 1986
Iranian forces recaptured Mehran after the June offensive. The victory had symbolic and strategic value, but did not end the wider war or reverse the attritional pressures on Iran’s economy and...
📅 31 August 1986
Iran began a northern offensive in the Haji Omran area. The operation relied on difficult mountain terrain and Kurdish allied forces, showing how the conflict extended into Iraqi Kurdistan as well...
📅 1 September 1986
Iran launched another offensive aimed at consolidating positions around the al-Faw peninsula and Majnoon Island. The operation followed Iran’s capture of al-Faw and sought to maintain pressure on...
📅 23 September 1986
The operation around al-Faw and Majnoon concluded without a decisive breakthrough. Iran held its major al-Faw gain, but the wider conflict remained an exhausting contest over exposed positions and...
📅 14 January 1987
Iranian forces opened an offensive on the central front while the much larger Karbala 5 battle was under way near Basra. The separate operation sought to draw Iraqi forces away from the southern...
📅 18 January 1987
The operation concluded after several days. Iran’s simultaneous offensives stretched the Iraqi front but did not secure a decisive military outcome, contributing to the attritional character of the...
📅 15 January 1988
Iranian forces launched a winter offensive in the Mawat area, seeking high ground and bargaining leverage. The operation made limited gains and showed that Tehran continued to seek battlefield...
📅 22 January 1988
The offensive in the Mawat area ended after Iranian forces secured some high ground but failed to transform the front. Limited results and heavy costs reinforced the strategic deadlock of the war’s...
📅 14 March 1988
Iranian forces began Operation Dawn 10 with Kurdish allies, capturing several towns in the Halabja region. The offensive briefly shifted the front and was followed by Iraqi chemical attacks on the...
📅 27 July 1988
Iranian forces counterattacked MEK units advancing through Kermanshah province. The Iranian government portrayed the incursion as an Iraqi-backed attempt to exploit the ceasefire decision; Mersad...
