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00:02Late 1985, Iranian forces had been trying to defeat Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein for five years.
00:14But every attack was driven back by Saddam's powerful tank force.
00:20The Iranian military, hampered by US and international sanctions,
00:25needed vital weaponry and even basic spare parts to achieve victory.
00:34Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khomeini's right-hand man, spotted a bargaining point.
00:41The numerous American hostages that it sponsored militias in Lebanon had kidnapped.
01:01This missile is towed. It's the West's most important anti-tank missile.
01:11Rafsanjani had his shopping list ready.
01:21The West's most important anti-tank missile attack.
01:21The West's most important war was that the
01:38The U.S. is not a disaster.
01:42The US does not want a military safety.
02:06In Washington, the National Security Council began to hear some interesting rumours.
02:12The story that was coming out from various sources was that there were groups in Iran that wanted a better
02:21relationship with the United States and that it was important to show we had their good wishes in mind.
02:35Manoucha Gourbanefar was an Iranian arms dealer. In a series of secret meetings, he persuaded the Americans to break their
02:43own embargo on weapons sales to Iran.
02:48In return, Rafsanjani could help with Reagan's big problem, the Lebanese hostage crisis.
02:57Rafsanjani came onto our radar as the guy who takes this revolution back to a normal place.
03:04Now, was that wishful thinking?
03:07I thought he could find a way to deal with the U.S. because I thought he was a pragmatic
03:11person, and I believed it was worth a try.
03:18Outwardly, Reagan maintained his opposition to negotiations with hostage takers.
03:23We know that you try to resolve the situation without paying a ransom. Such a movement would be in effect
03:31giving in to the terrorists.
03:35But behind the scenes, the arms sales went through. Delivery of the spare parts and missiles to the Iranians gave
03:46encouragement as they prepared for a decisive new offensive against Basra.
03:51The main importance was that Iraq was in the second area, after Baghdad. The second one was that the Shia
04:03Nishin was in the first place.
04:04And Mr Khomeini's opinion was that the Shia Nishin was in effect that the Shia Nishin was in effect.
04:16It was believed that taking Iraq's only port would end the war in one blow.
04:27The main importance of the Sia Nishin was in effect, until Iraq and the Shia Nishin was in effect.
04:34Because the Sia Nishin had been very difficult to do with Iraq.
05:00In Iraq, Saddam was preparing for an attack on Basra, but he didn't expect it to come
05:07across the Alfawa Peninsula, the inhospitable marshland to the south.
05:42The whole sector was undermanned and unprepared.
06:08The day before the offensive, thousands of elite revolutionary guards, specially trained
06:13in amphibious warfare, prepared themselves.
06:20Having been told by their religious leaders to seek martyrdom, many did not expect to return.
06:26They are in war.
07:04The commando attacks went well.
07:32The infantry followed.
07:36The infantry followed.
07:57The unprogrammed efficiently run.
08:02Don't sighed.
08:07We have done all of them.
08:15Within three days, Iran controlled over 400 square kilometers south of Basra.
08:27The time we reached the front of them,
08:30they were in Sangari in order to get rid of them.
08:49Iran started bringing in reinforcements.
08:52They now had a base from which to launch their final assault on Basra itself.
09:00Iran started bringing in reinforcements.
09:06They now had a base from which to launch their final assault on Basra itself.
09:07We wanted to get rid of them.
09:23With thousands of Iraqis killed or taken prisoner, the blow to their morale was immense.
09:53Saddam hurried down to the Basra front.
10:14Saddam rushed in reinforcements and ordered a major counter-attack.
10:18Saddam rushed in reinforcements and ordered a major counter-attack.
10:23Saddam hurried down to the Basra back.
10:27But the advance by his tanks was stopped in its tracks.
10:34Saddam …
10:40Saddam hurried down.
10:57These were the missiles recently acquired from the Americans.
11:11This was the 15th century, so from the beginning of the year, I mean, if I was to get on
11:16the
11:16end of the war, I would go back to the war, I would go back to the war.
11:25Rafsanjani's secret deal seemed to be paying off.
11:31But there was little Rafsanjani could do to counter the most terrifying weapon in Saddam's arsenal.
11:40There was a lot of weapons in the U.S.
11:43In the U.S., the missiles from Iraq, the missiles from the U.S.
11:52The missiles from the U.S.
11:53The missiles from the wind and the sea were very harsh.
11:58The missiles from the U.S.
12:03They were in the desert, they all became chemical.
12:11The gas was burned, the gas was burned, I don't know.
12:18The gas was burned in the desert.
12:21The gas was burned in the desert, and the gas was burned in the desert.
12:30It was very strange.
12:34The Iranians invited in the foreign media to make the world aware of this repeat atrocity.
12:41And he also has some difficulty breathing.
12:45So he is the kind of patient that he may develop severe symptoms.
12:51The UN sent an investigation team, as they'd done before.
12:55But this time, they explicitly named Iraq as the perpetrator.
12:59On many occasions, Iraqi forces have used chemical weapons against Iranian forces.
13:09We strongly condemn the said use of chemical weapons in contravention of the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
13:20The UN also issued a new peace proposal, its fifth.
13:26Resolution 582 called for an immediate ceasefire.
13:32Saddam accepted.
13:38But the cause of the war remained a controversial sticking point, with each side blaming the other.
13:47Because the UN resolution didn't name Iraq as the aggressor, Rafsanjani explained that Iran rejected it.
13:55We never had any faith in this organization and told them they needed to condemn the person who started the
14:00war.
14:01Therefore, this resolution has no effect whatsoever, and has disappointed us by bringing no justice.
14:09As a result of the war.
14:14Meanwhile, the situation on the salt flats outside Basra was left in stalemate.
14:48The French
15:09Iranian troops suffered equally.
15:28Iranian troops
15:50I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
16:12Raph Sanjani's ambitious plans had to be abandoned.
16:29Raph Sanjani's ambitious plans had to be abandoned in the city of Raph Sanjani's.
16:56The American weaponry alone have not provided the breakthrough Rafsanjani had hoped for.
17:07Meanwhile in Washington there was also frustration.
17:11Nine months after delivery of the first batch of missiles, Iran had only arranged for the release of one hostage.
17:23I want to express my gratitude to fellow Presbyterians for myself, my family and other hostages during the past 16
17:32and a half months.
17:33And the pressure on Reagan had only increased from those that remained captive.
17:38Another hurt, worse than captivity, is the fact that our government refuses to help us.
17:47Being ignored is the worst pain.
17:53A covert team was given the go-ahead to visit Iran and speed up the process.
18:00The participants included Navy Lieutenant Oliver North.
18:06The Iranian arms dealer Manuha Gorbanifar.
18:10Reagan's former national security adviser Robert McFarlane.
18:16And Howard Teicher.
18:22The whole team gathered in Israel.
18:26Apparently North asked Gorbanifar, what can we bring as a gift?
18:32And Gorbanifar said, well, when Persians' families make up from a fight, they exchange cookies and cakes.
18:39So why don't you bring a cake?
18:41And so, as a joke, North got a cake in Tel Aviv.
18:46And then arriving in Tehran, he pulled out the cake and I said, Ali, what is that?
18:51So he explained it to me.
18:52And then he pulled this, you know, skeleton key out of his pocket and he put it on the middle
18:57of the cake.
18:58And he goes, this cake holds the key to the future of Iranian-American relations.
19:05Gorbanifar had promised high-level meetings with Iran's key decision-makers.
19:10What the American visitors were offered was very different.
19:16We never met with the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Assembly and President, who we were told we would
19:23meet with.
19:24So, Mr. McFarlane said, we're out of here.
19:27We haven't delivered.
19:29So, the talks were ended.
19:35The Americans returned home empty-handed.
19:38Reagan noted in his diary that it was a heartbreaking disappointment.
19:46Ignoring recommendations that the sale of weapons be halted,
19:50Reagan insisted the missile sales and negotiations must continue.
19:54The hostage crisis was too important politically.
20:03The justification was hostage-driven and the President himself was determined to do something.
20:12They became an obsession for the White House to get those hostages out.
20:21But in Washington, it's difficult to keep a secret like this for long.
20:28I'm not very aware of theometriosis.
20:30I was feeling the right to say I would like to be in peace.
20:32I'm not very aware of the House Bill.
20:32I'm not sure if I was a patron at the White House.
20:33I'm guilty.
20:34I'm not sure if I was there.
20:35I'm not sure if I was here for the United States.
20:35Because I took a secret really today.
20:46I ran out for the White House in the world.
20:55MacFarlane made a secret trip to Iran, trying to get Iran to use its influence to help free American hostages
21:01in Lebanon.
21:02There are indications that MacFarlane went to Iran to offer spare parts for American-made weapons as an inducement to
21:08win cooperation.
21:11The world awaited Reagan's response.
21:15President, in the recent past, there was an administration whose byword was, watch what we do, not what we say.
21:21We were negotiating with certain individuals within that country.
21:27The kidnappers of our hostages did have some kind of relationship in which Iran could influence them,
21:34and so sometimes you have to keep a secret in order to save human lives and to succeed in the
21:41mission.
21:42The president's admission that he had sent arms to Iran was met with shock.
21:48We should not even have a perception of trading arms for hostages.
21:56Reagan finally closed down the disastrous operation.
22:01The president says he will not be sending them any more arms, at least for now.
22:06We have absolutely no plans to do any such thing.
22:12Saddam was now more worried than ever.
22:15The Iranians had re-armed.
22:17He couldn't rely on the Americans.
22:19And he wasn't even sure he could rely on his own men.
22:30He needed to upgrade his army if he was to survive another assault.
22:48Saddam decided to expand his elite units.
23:08To counteract losses, Saddam also increased the age of conscription to the popular army
23:14to include men up to the age of 42.
23:18Volunteers could be even older.
23:25In Iran, Raf Zanjani was also making changes to his army.
23:30He launched a massive recruitment drive for old and young,
23:34still believing that sheer force of numbers was the best way to defeat Saddam's superior firepower.
23:40He was also making forts in his army.
23:47chỉ want no one else terug to mails a Grandstand.
23:59I have my own character.
24:00I have my own character.
24:05I have my own character.
24:08I have my own character.
24:10I have my own character.
24:12I have my own character.
24:13I have no idea.
24:17Schools, through their Islamic associations,
24:20sometimes helped children enter the war,
24:23even without their parents' knowledge.
24:26Over a hundred thousand new troops were recruited
24:35After often cursory training they joined the main battalions to serve alongside more experienced soldiers
24:46Then troops received news that R&R was cancelled
24:55I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know
24:58They announced that we were going to go to the 4th of Karbala
25:07Karbala IV was another attack on Basra's rings of defences
25:14But it is believed that Rafsanjani and his commanders planned it as a diversion
25:25Tens of thousands of revolutionary guard and volunteer units were thrown into the assault
25:32They had no idea they were being sacrificed
25:41In the meantime
25:43At the time where we are from, the bombshell had come to us
25:48The bomb had kilometers
25:52The bombshell fire after me
25:56I was shot behind
25:57When I was there, I didn't know how much I was there.
26:04When I was born and I thought that I was a poor person.
26:10I wanted to ask myself,
26:15I said,
26:16I'm Iranian.
26:18Look at that.
26:19I have my job.
26:23When I saw my life,
26:27I had a tear and tear.
26:29When I realized,
26:33I came from my brain.
26:42The Iranians once again suffered immense losses.
26:54When I saw my life,
26:57I started to take care of my life.
26:57I became a man of a man of a man of a man of a man.
26:59I threw my blood.
27:02You saw my death.
27:03Every place I saw my brain,
27:06I saw my mind and I think my mind will be dead.
27:15Rafsanjani knew that Iraq would relax its guard after a major victory, and he had secret
27:20plans ready for Operation Karbala 5 to take Basra once and for all.
27:29But first he needed political approval.
27:33We had a lot of work.
27:38We had a lot of work.
27:41We had a lot of work in Teheran.
27:44They were very upset.
27:46I thought, you don't have any idea.
27:51We went to the commander's office and said,
27:57we were to forgive them.
28:14Units received the code word.
28:28Soldiers gave their final prayer.
28:47For what was called the mother of all battles, Rafsanjani urged his forces to defeat the enemy
28:53at any cost.
29:05The assault forces attacked some of the most heavily defended positions on the front.
29:33The war was a lot.
29:35The war was a lot.
29:35We got the water.
29:38We got the water and the other side.
29:40We got the water.
29:43It was a relief.
29:46The other thing that was nice was that Iraq
29:49started to get the water.
29:52We had a little more.
29:55We have to get the water.
30:01When Iraq was a mistake,
30:04and they were completely restrained.
30:08They were anxious and they were encouraged.
30:12But they were surprised that the Iranian army was attacked with a violent attack.
30:19When the war started, they were shocked.
30:22For the war, they went to the war.
30:49It took the Iranians only a few days to advance to within 16 kilometers of the city.
31:01It took the Iranians a lot of the Iraq islands, but in the same way, there was a hero.
31:11We had a lot of luck until we could get there.
31:22As the casualties mounted, Rafsanjani threw in 50,000 reinforcements.
31:44I was in a corner and I was in a corner and I was in a corner and I was
31:48in a corner.
31:53The first time I was in a corner, I was afraid.
31:56The fear of the people's head is in a corner.
32:00When you have 400 people in the corner and you have 150 people in the corner,
32:09It's a strange feeling.
32:11I saw you in a big car and a lotto.
32:14For example, you got to go back to the sea.
32:38After another grueling few weeks, the Iranians were within sight of Basra.
32:55As their troops surrendered in droves, the Iraqis were gripped with fear.
33:18Only a year earlier, Saddam had been condemned by the UN for using chemical weapons.
33:25But that didn't deter him now.
33:30They had to use weapons to stop them.
33:34If they were to use chemical weapons, they would be able to kill them in Basra.
33:43They call them the Basra in Basra.
33:47Now you can see the Iranians, the Iranians.
33:52They have been killed by the Iraqis.
33:57They have been killed by the Iraqis.
33:59We have to use chemical weapons.
34:20Iraq intelligence reported that the Iranians themselves were now using chemical weapons.
34:30While they had a chemical weapons program, it was not as advanced as Iraq's.
34:34And if they did use chemicals, it failed to give them any advantage.
34:54Losing men but no longer gaining ground, the exhausted Iranians were forced to withdraw.
35:23But many senior generals had predicted the failure of this offensive.
35:28I thought that the victim of the government was the one who was in the first time the regime was
35:37the one who was in the first place.
35:38They said that the government was the one who was in the first place.
36:15Even now, after yet another failed offensive, Rafsanjani didn't fight Khomeini over the continuation of the war.
36:27Rafsanjani didn't fight the war against Khomeini in 1964-1965, and he didn't fight the war against him.
36:46Instead, Rafsanjani put his hopes in bringing about Saddam's economic collapse by strangling his oil trade.
36:58Revolutionary Guards laid mines and launched attacks from their gunboats, targeting oil tankers even in international waters.
37:15Unconcerned that it would increase Iran's pariah status, it was a significant escalation of the tanker war.
37:24The international community was horrified.
37:27The tanker war began, again, with Iraq basically attacking oil tankers in Iranian waters, which is technically okay.
37:39Where it qualitatively changed is that the Iranian response was to start mining international shipping lanes.
37:50And that is a totally different thing.
37:53And under the rules of war, you're not supposed to do that.
37:56The world was dependent on those oil shipments to the extent that it was an economic threat to basically the
38:04entire world.
38:05The Kuwaitis in particular felt in the front line of this tanker war, and their diplomats spoke out.
38:12The Iranians have escalated their attacks on our shipping.
38:17It has crippled our ability to export our oil, damaging our economic interest as well as the interest of the
38:23world economic situation.
38:29The U.S. already had a small naval presence in the Gulf.
38:33But as they discussed how to help the Kuwaitis, they suddenly found themselves under attack.
38:47We did not realize the missile was fired until it was too late to engage with our systems.
38:54It was just a big flash, and all you see is the flames at the top of the hatch.
38:58There was always smoke in the compartment.
39:00There was no lights, and there was water already coming in.
39:02It was hard to get around and check everybody's wreck.
39:12But what came as a shock was that the attacker wasn't Iran.
39:19I remember getting the word that the USS Stark, which was down by the Emirates, had been struck by Iraqi
39:28aircraft.
39:31An Iraqi pilot had fired an Exocet missile at the Stark, killing 37 crewmen.
39:40I know and I share the sense of concern and anger that Americans feel over yesterday's tragedy in the Persian
39:47Gulf.
39:48I want to express my deepest sympathies to the families of the brave men killed and injured yesterday aboard the
39:54USS Stark.
39:55The Iraqis made a swift apology.
39:59There was no intention to hit, neither by the highest authorities of Iraq nor by the pilot himself.
40:11Saddam didn't like the Americans, but he needed them.
40:15Fearing the loss of their intelligence and financial support, he now wrote a personal letter of apology to President Reagan
40:22and agreed to pay damages.
40:26I firmly believe that it was a horrible, tragic mistake.
40:32You have to remember, the Iranians got their navy from us.
40:35So an Iranian naval vessel and a U.S. naval vessel would not have looked all that different.
40:44Reagan accepted Saddam's apology, but made clear there could be no more mistakes.
40:54From now on, if aircraft approach any of our ships in a way that appears hostile, there is one order
41:01of battle.
41:03Defend yourselves, defend American lives.
41:16Saddam felt lucky, boasting to his men that if a ship of his had been attacked, he'd have bombed the
41:22airfield the plane had come from.
41:29With the war threatening the whole region, the UN decided to call again for a ceasefire and adopted Resolution 598.
41:47The UN, for the first time, allowed sanctions for non-compliance.
41:52In 1987, after seven years and a half million people being killed, the permanent members said, OK, we're going to
42:00do something we've never done before.
42:02A key element would be not just an appeal for a ceasefire, but a statement there must be a ceasefire.
42:08And if one of the parties fails to accept the resolution, then that could open the door to sanctions being
42:19applied.
42:20Iraq swiftly accepted the resolution, as it had previously, but Iran didn't respond.
42:28Meanwhile, America was already enacting a plan to protect international shipping.
42:32To the concerns of countries in the region, Kuwait in particular, which has made a request to us, that they
42:44not be subjected to pressure from Iran and that their ships sail without attack is something we have agreed to
42:56respond to and we will continue to do that.
42:58Our presence in the Gulf is in no way provocative.
43:04America would not only escort Kuwaiti tankers, they would reflag them as their own.
43:21United States.
43:37The
43:39had already warned of reprisals if America intervened in the Gulf.
44:18Despite his warnings, a fleet of 11 Kuwaiti ships now bearing the US flag left port.
44:28They were accompanied by the largest naval escort since World War II.
44:33The future belongs to the brave.
44:35Free men should not cower before such challenges, and they should not expect to stand alone.
44:45One of the re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers was renamed as the US merchant vessel Bridgeton.
44:51It was the first test of America's new tanker protection strategy.
44:58Despite the massive American military presence, it didn't go according to plan.
45:07The whole ship shuddered and rocked quite a bit. It threw us all into the air three or four inches.
45:14Would you say this was put there deliberately?
45:17Clearly. A moored mine. It's difficult to assess who places a mine.
45:23Track record, however, would clearly point the finger to Iran.
45:27Spilling oil, the ship headed back to dock.
45:33Iran had plausible deniability, and Rafsanjani declared that the mine had been laid by God's angels.
45:44But America was incensed. The situation was escalating.
45:55A few weeks later, US reconnaissance spotted an Iranian ship, the Iran Aja, laying mines.
46:11Navy SEALs boarded the vessel, killing five crew.
46:20They confiscated the mines on board. Evidence, if it were needed, of Iranian mine laying.
46:31The next day at the United Nations, Iranian President Ali Khamenei made clear that a new phase of the war
46:39had begun.
46:39This is a song for a reason that, without a doubt, the war would not be a threat to the
46:47France.
46:50The responsibility of all the future is the beginning of the America, meaning America.
46:58Hearing Khamenei's threats, the Americans walked out.
47:06When another US-flagged vessel was hit in Kuwaiti waters, the American Navy retaliated.
47:18The United States naval vessel struck an Iranian military platform in international waters in the Central Persian Gulf.
47:27Many asked if war between the two nations was inevitable.
47:32No, we're not going to have a war with Iran. They're not that stupid.
47:41But the Iranians were not so sure.
47:47I think it's a full-fledged, de facto war against my country.
47:51And we feel entitled to take the necessary actions at the appropriate time.
48:00Iran was feeling the pressure economically and militarily.
48:04But both the Revolutionary Guard and Khamenei, trusting in divine destiny, still believed victory was possible.
48:17And Rafsanjani had already agreed to a new battle plan to achieve it.
48:27A look back over the eight harrowing years of the Iran-Iraq war continues tomorrow night at 5 to 10.
48:34Now, PBS America concludes its fortified history of Britain's castles.
48:55A voyage of the Northern Enterprise
48:55But it's been the only time for our operations.
48:55We will not have the ends of the war with any other Spanish.
48:56Our aviation is not the only enemy of the United States.
48:56It is a fire for us, but the government itself is not the only enemy of the soldiers.
48:58You
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