Iran-Iraq Conflict: The Review of the Roots, Causes, Decision Process, Conflict Resolution, and Causes of Non-resolution

Shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Iran-Iraq War erupted on 22 September 1980, following Iraq's full-scale airstrikes on Iranian air bases and ground invasion of the oil-producing border province of Khuzestan. The Iran-Iraq War, which is considered the longest conventional war of the 20th century, was one of the most devastating conflicts in recent history, fueled by territorial, religious, and political disputes. This prolonged conflict turned into a war of attrition in its latter phase until the signing of a formal peace agreement on 20 August 1988, under Security Council Resolution 598. This article employs the Unified Model of Crisis (UMC) to evaluate the Iran-Iraq conflict. The UMC integrates the pre-crisis period, crisis escalation phase, de-escalation phase, post-crisis period, and crisis at both the international (macro) and state (micro) levels to assess this complex phenomenon. This article evaluates the historical roots of the conflict and focuses on the primary causes, including ethnic, identity, ideological, religious, and territorial factors, as well as precipitating causes and discordant objectives. In addition, this research accounts for the decision-making process and evaluates the causes of non-resolution as well as the approaches taken toward conflict management and resolution through the analysis of Security Council Resolutions.