Tanker war during the Iran-Iraq war and its impact on Kuwait (1984-1986)

Abstract

This research aims to study the effects of the Iraqi-Iranian war, not only on the two sides of the conflict, but its impact on the countries of the region, especially Kuwait. In 1984, Iraq began to expand the scope of the war by attacking Iranian oil tankers. On the pretext that these countries provide support to Iraq in its war against Iran in order to force these countries to stop their support for Iraq, the tanker war continued until 1986, in the same year Kuwait was forced to seek help from major countries (the United States of America and the Soviet Union) to protect its tankers from Iranian strikes ,The UN Security Council held an emergency session and issued Resolution No. (552), in which it condemned the attack on oil and commercial tankers in the waters of the Arabian Gulf. The League of Arab States also sought to find a solution to this crisis, but to no avail. The tanker war greatly affected Kuwait, since oil is considered to be the essential source of its economy, and therefor ships and oil tankers became the target of Iranian artillery bombardment. From April 1986 to 1987, damages to Kuwait reached an estimated 48 Kuwaiti oil tankers. The study as a whole is a historical and analytical attempt to highlight the role of Kuwait in providing aids to Iraq in its war against Iran, and to indicate the extent to which it was affected by this war as a result of its support to Iraq, as the Iranian government pressured Kuwait to stop its support for Iraq by striking its oil tankers, which forced Kuwait to request Assistance from the superpowers (the United States of America, the Soviet Union) to protect their oil tankers from Iranian attacks.