The Backstory
The Iran-Iraq war was a protected armed conflict that began in 1980 when Iraq invaded its neighbor, Iran. The war lasted eight years and ended with a cease-fire in 1988 and a formal peace agreement in 1990.
Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s president at the time, wanted to seize control of the rich oil-producing Iranian border region of Khuzestan. But once they started attacking the oil-tanker shipping that supplied the rest of the world, the US and Europe got involved to ensure a steady flow to the rest of the world. But what about the gold?