Beginning in 1985, Iraq and Iran conducted an escalating campaign of missile attacks against each other's major cities. Ballistic missiles, fired from hundreds of kilometers away, targeted Tehran and Baghdad, turning civilians into targets of strategic warfare. The 'War of the Cities' established a precedent: ballistic missiles as weapons of terror.

Iraqi Strategy

Iraq's motivation was partly strategic—disrupting Iranian war production and morale—and partly psychological. By striking Tehran, Saddam hoped to break the will of Iran's population and leadership. The missiles used were Soviet-supplied Scud-B systems, relatively inaccurate but capable of reaching Baghdad's rival across the Gulf.

The first Iraqi Scud attacks on Tehran occurred in 1985 and caused panic. Civilians fled the capital. The Iranian government struggled to maintain order. For a nation that had begun the war with revolutionary fervor, the realization that they could be struck at will in their own cities was sobering.

Iran's Response

Iran retaliated with its own Scud attacks on Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. The Iranians operated with fewer missiles and less capable delivery systems, but they were determined to demonstrate that they could strike back. The tit-for-tat escalation continued throughout 1986 and 1987.

The War of the Cities demonstrated an important principle: in asymmetric conflicts, the side with inferior conventional military capability can still impose costs on the stronger side by targeting civilian centers. The psychological impact of missile attacks—the unpredictability, the inability of civilians to defend themselves, the constant threat—proved significant.

Civilian Terror as Strategy

By targeting civilian concentrations, both Iraq and Iran were using terror as a strategic tool. This was not accidental—it was deliberate policy. Iraqi commanders believed that civilian casualties would break Iranian morale. Iranian leaders believed that demonstrating their ability to strike Baghdad would deter Iraqi escalation.

Neither side achieved decisive results, but both succeeded in imposing suffering. Estimates suggest that hundreds of civilians died in the missile attacks. Tens of thousands fled the targeted cities. The economic disruption—evacuations, collapsed commerce, psychological trauma—rippled through both societies.

A Portent of Future Conflicts

The War of the Cities was historically significant because it established a precedent that would be repeated in later Middle Eastern conflicts: ballistic missiles as weapons of terror against civilian populations. The principle that a conventionally weaker side could deter a stronger side by threatening its cities would resurface in subsequent Arab-Israeli conflicts and in later regional wars.