Smaller in terms of manpower? Maybe.
Iraq was actually superior in manpower too. The Iranians had a higher population, but their administrative and logistical difficulties after the revolution meant they couldn’t muster them as well. On average, the Iraqis had an advantage of 1.5-1.75 times more fielded troops on the front throughout the war.
What is surprising about the Iran-Iraq War is not that the Iraqis ultimately won, but that it took them so long to do so, and that their final offensives accomplished such limited gains. A conventional eye that simply glanced at the numbers of men and both the quantity and quality of equipment on each side during the battles of the early or middle war would time and time again have predicted crushing Iraqi victory at this battle or another, yet instead, time after time, an army of mostly light infantry defeated, or nearly defeated, a larger mechanized and armoured force in both defensive and offensive battles!
Iraq had 2nd rate Soviet planes in 1980
Iran without a doubt was far ahead in AirPower
Not really. Both countries total inventories had a mix of 1st and 2nd rate aircraft from their respective backers. But due to all the maintenance and logistical difficulties, Iran mustered very few operational modern aircraft compared to Iraq, but ultimately sortie generation was about the same because the Iraqis organization was a mess. Ultimately in most aircraft engagements, the Iranians came out ahead, but this came down to pilot skill: most Iraqi pilots were trained in either the USSR or France. The Soviet instructors passed something like 50% of the Iraqis trainee they received and would later remark that if it weren’t for political pressure from above that number would have been more like 10%. The French on the other hand apparently felt no such pressure and failed
all of the Iraqi trainees they got. But upon return, they were made combat pilots in the Iraqi Air Force regardless of pass or fail.
