What if Saddam invaded Iran?

Kaze

Banned
Here is the premise - instead of going for Kuwait, he attacked Iran. How would the US respond? Would he be successful this time around - in history, Saddam attacked Iran multiple times without success - but would his attack in the 1980's be successful?
 
Here is the premise - instead of going for Kuwait, he attacked Iran. How would the US respond? Would he be successful this time around - in history, Saddam attacked Iran multiple times without success - but would his attack in the 1980's be successful?

He did attack Iran - in 1980. And that ended in a stalemate in 1988.
 
Here is the premise - instead of going for Kuwait, he attacked Iran. How would the US respond? Would he be successful this time around - in history, Saddam attacked Iran multiple times without success - but would his attack in the 1980's be successful?

Is this a DBWI? Saddam has just spent eight years and hundreds of thousands of lives trying to invade Iran, unsuccessfully.
 
Given they barely survived the first time around and suffered a bloodily 8 year long war , I doubt they are going to go for second round only 2 years later
 
Here is the premise - instead of going for Kuwait, he attacked Iran. How would the US respond? Would he be successful this time around - in history, Saddam attacked Iran multiple times without success - but would his attack in the 1980's be successful?
He did, for 8 years. Kuwait was a side effect of his Iranian invasion!
 
Here is the premise - instead of going for Kuwait, he attacked Iran. How would the US respond? Would he be successful this time around - in history, Saddam attacked Iran multiple times without success - but would his attack in the 1980's be successful?

Iraq would eventually go bankrupt and collaspe if they restarted a war if Iran.

The Iraq-Iran war ravaged Iraq economically which is why they invaded Kuwait.
 
Iraq collapses 20 years earlier. Sunnis and Shiites start whaling on each other...only this time, the US isnt going to be involved from the get go. I hate to think what ttl Daesh looks like.
 
This is a larger board question, but how much did the Iran/Iraq war inform modern conflict? I know it’s the source of a lot of theories on munitions expenditures, but did we gain any other theories from it?
 
This is a larger board question, but how much did the Iran/Iraq war inform modern conflict?
how not to fight a war? Iran ended up using mass human wave attacks that accomplished absolutely nothing. Iraq responded to them pretty well, with fortified lines and dug in weapons... which was a great idea against Iran, but completely wrong when facing the allies in Kuwait. And the attacks on neutral shipping in the Gulf ended up bringing in the USN, which led to the devastation of Iran's navy...
 
Had Iraq tried against Iran yet again it would have been left with pretty much the same outcome as the Gulf-war. Iraqi troops would be massively demoralized, Iraq would go bankrupt, and I'd assume the international powers would do something.
 
how not to fight a war? Iran ended up using mass human wave attacks that accomplished absolutely nothing. Iraq responded to them pretty well, with fortified lines and dug in weapons... which was a great idea against Iran, but completely wrong when facing the allies in Kuwait. And the attacks on neutral shipping in the Gulf ended up bringing in the USN, which led to the devastation of Iran's navy...

The only reason why Iran did human wave attacks was because they had almost no tanks with which they could penetrate the Iraq lines. As well as having a inferior amount of artillery.

Considering the dire Iranian material situation post revolution, the fact that the Iranian army still managed to stalemate Iraq is decent.
 
Considering the dire Iranian material situation post revolution, the fact that the Iranian army still managed to stalemate Iraq is decent.
More so due to Iraqi incompetence than anything else despite outnumbering the Iranians 3 to 1 and an overwhelming number of heavy equipment,Iraq almost lost. Any half way competent force would have destroyed Iran.
 
The only reason why Iran did human wave attacks was because they had almost no tanks with which they could penetrate the Iraq lines. As well as having a inferior amount of artillery.

Considering the dire Iranian material situation post revolution, the fact that the Iranian army still managed to stalemate Iraq is decent.
AIUI, Iraqi incompetence is a big chunk of the reason that Iran was able to drive them out. Having done so though, they might have done better to look for heavy weapons out on the international market; by the end of the war, the human wave attacks were being launched at Iraqi defenses inside Iraq, and all they accomplished was to rack up huge casualties...
 
how not to fight a war? Iran ended up using mass human wave attacks that accomplished absolutely nothing. Iraq responded to them pretty well, with fortified lines and dug in weapons... which was a great idea against Iran, but completely wrong when facing the allies in Kuwait. And the attacks on neutral shipping in the Gulf ended up bringing in the USN, which led to the devastation of Iran's navy...

But wasn't that strategy completely useless against Iran, considering that it was Iraq that was attacking Iran and so Iraq should have chosen offensive strategies to overcome its enemy.
 
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