Officials propose easing export restrictions for Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld told Saddam Hussein that Washington and Baghdad shared interests in preventing Iranian and Syrian expansion. He described U.S. efforts to restrict arms transfers to Iran.

A State Department memorandum recommended Export-Import Bank financing for Iraq. It argued that credit could support Iraq’s economy and demonstrate U.S. support during the war.

A cable to Rumsfeld’s party outlined follow-up steps on the Iran–Iraq war, including efforts to curtail arms supplies to Iran. These efforts affected Tehran’s search for wartime military equipment.

Iraqi aircraft broke the sound barrier over Tehran, according to Iranian reporting. Residents contacted by telephone described sirens calling people to shelter.

Iraq handed 190 Iranian prisoners to the ICRC in Ankara for repatriation. The ICRC stated that 87 were severely wounded or sick.

Iran’s letter to the Conference on Disarmament reported an alleged Iraqi chemical attack near Piranshahr. The record dates the letter, not its later circulation on 13 February.

Missile and air attacks on urban centres intensified during the first half of February. Iranian civilians faced the direct effects of a conflict that increasingly targeted cities as well as military...

The Secretary-General wrote to Iran’s foreign minister about a proposed fact-finding mission. International documentation of wartime harm was an important part of Tehran’s diplomatic campaign.

The ICRC issued another memorandum concerning prisoner protections in the conflict. Its continuing appeals showed that previous interventions had not settled humanitarian concerns.

Iran’s UN correspondence reported Iraqi missiles damaging homes, a hospital and a school in Dezful. The account documents Iranian claims about harm to civilian services.