Iranian MPs drafting plan to obtain war reparations from Iraq

August 10, 2010 - 0:0

TEHRAN -- The Iranian parliament is drafting a plan to obtain war reparations from Iraq, MP Eivaz Heidarpour announced on Monday.

The Iraqi government inflicted a $1 trillion loss on Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, and the plan will require that the government demand compensation from Iraq through international channels, Heidarpour, who is a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Mehr News Agency.
Seeking war reparations in the Middle East, which has witnessed long wars, can help prevent other countries from launching new wars in the region, he added.
If Iraq wants to pay the reparations, it would have to give Iran one million barrels of oil per day, at $70 per barrel, for 50 years to at least compensate for the financial losses it imposed on the country, Heidarpour noted.
The eight-year imposed war began when Iraq attacked Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land into Iranian territory on September 22, 1980.
The former Iraqi dictator’s Baathist regime sought to displace the Islamic Republic as the dominant Persian Gulf state and enjoyed massive support from the United States and some of its allies throughout the course of the war.
Although the war came at a great cost in lives and economic damage to both countries, it brought no reparations. It finally ended in August 1988.
The United Nations has declared that Iraq was the aggressor in its wars with Iran and Kuwait, and Iraq is currently paying reparations to the Kuwaiti government