this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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I do love when people forget that the Iran/Iraq war happened and Iran, despite being the smaller military, fought Iraq to a standstill because it is extremely difficult to invade Iran, and they have only had 40 years since then to learn from the invasion by Iraq.
Iran had larger military.
I was under the impression it was the other way around which is why Saddam was confident. Guess he just believed his American backers.
Saddam also believed in berserker mode (chemical weapons)
Saddam banked on post-revolutionary chaos and American sanctions cutting Iran from modern weaponry, and lost, because Iran had much larger population and could mobilize enough of them. In fact, in Khuzestan all fighting were on flat terrain, Saddam failed to reach mountains there.
Maybe more numerous in terms of reservists but not larger in terms of mobilized infantry or materiel. The newer Iranian state, barely a year old and piecing itself together after a revolution, was not in an opportune position to fight a war, compared to Iraq which had a coup that seized a ready-made state apparatus.
Saddam was not being irrational in attacking first when he did.
Iran had roughly the same number of troops initially, but just a year later achieved numerical superiority, which allowed them to push Iraqi troops out despite disadvantages in materiel.