U.S. launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian targets

A contemporary report described Tehran residents enduring alerts and queues for airline tickets. The account reveals attempts to leave and the strain of living under missile attack.

The U.S. frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts was badly damaged by a mine while escorting shipping. Washington blamed Iran and treated the incident as a trigger for a military response. Iran disputed the...

Iran’s representative submitted a letter reporting chemical weapons use. The communication added to the formal record of Iran’s complaints as the fighting intensified in spring 1988.

A later presidential report records $37.9 million in Iranian funds returned from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The release followed arrangements under the Iran–U.S. Claims Tribunal process.

Iraq launched a major offensive, using chemical munitions and overwhelming Iranian positions to retake al-Faw. The reversal erased Iran’s most important territorial gain of 1986 and signaled a...

Iran reported alleged Iraqi chemical weapons use on 17 and 18 April. The event dates the formal complaint on 19 April, keeping it distinct from the reported attack dates.

Iran transmitted a chart of alleged chemical attacks since the beginning of the war. The compilation organized Tehran’s evidence and accusations for consideration by the United Nations.

A UN mission reported that chemical weapon attacks had continued and increased in intensity. Iran had sought investigations after repeated battlefield and civilian exposures. The report made the scale...

Saudi Arabia announced severing diplomatic ties with Iran. The rupture followed the Mecca crisis and years of hostility over Saudi support for Iraq.

Iran sent a further letter concerning chemical weapons use to the United Nations. The submission followed the Secretary-General’s chemical weapons report circulated on 25 April.