• Setting the stage for war
• Creating an Islamic Republic
• Iraqi invasion
• Lingering conflict invites international attention
• Calling it quits
• The legacy of war
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For eight years, the nations of Iran and Iraq fought to a bloody standstill in their war for regional dominance. While the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) was an important event in the history of both of those countries, it also revealed some of the more complex issues facing the Middle East in the twentieth century. The war forced people in both countries to question which form of identity was most important or unifying: their ethnic group,...