Tanker War
The phase of the Iran–Iraq War in which Iran and Iraq attacked commercial ships and oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, especially from 1984 to 1988.
Operation Earnest Will: A United States naval operation that escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Persian Gulf from 1987 to 1988. The operation protected shipping after attacks on Gulf tankers intensified.
Iran–Iraq War: A war between Iran and Iraq fought from 1980 to 1988 over territorial, political, and regional disputes. The Tanker War grew out of the longer Iran–Iraq conflict.
Saddam Hussein: Iraq’s president from 1979 to 2003 and its leader during the Iran–Iraq War. He directed Iraq’s war strategy, including attacks on Iranian oil exports.
Oil price: The market price paid for crude oil, shaped by supply, demand, quality, and geopolitical risk. Threats to Gulf exports made oil prices sensitive to the fighting.
Operation Praying Mantis: A United States naval attack on Iranian targets in the Persian Gulf on April 18, 1988. It followed an Iranian mine damaging the USS Samuel B. Roberts during an escort mission.
Iranian Revolution: The 1979 revolution that overthrew Iran’s monarchy and established the Islamic Republic. Revolutionary tensions shaped the hostility that preceded the war.
Ruhollah Khomeini: Iran’s supreme leader from 1979 until his death in 1989 and a central figure in the Islamic Revolution. He led Iran during the conflict and rejected a ceasefire until 1988.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 598: A 1987 United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire and other measures to end the Iran–Iraq War. The ceasefire it demanded took effect in 1988, ending the Tanker War phase.
USS Samuel B. Roberts: A United States Navy frigate damaged by an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf in 1988. Its mining prompted a major United States retaliatory operation.
Shatt al-Arab: A river formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, forming part of the Iran–Iraq border. Disputes over this waterway were central to the war’s origins.