From Saddam Hussein to Israel: How Iran's wars have divided a nation - analysis

On September 22, 1980, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini remained calm as Iraqi forces invaded Iran. He dismissed the attack as insignificant, citing the regime's ability to handle the threat. However, Iran's eight-year war with Iraq, resulting in an estimated half a million deaths, proved him wrong. The conflict united a fractured nation, many of whom had little love for Khomeini or the clerical establishment that had taken power.

Forty-six years later, Iran has faced two conflicts with Israel and the United States within a year. While Iran's leaders insist on national unity, the reality is more complex. In 1980, a weakened Iran, struggling with its own revolution and political divisions, was vulnerable to Iraq's invasion. Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, believed the domestic turmoil would make the war easily won, particularly if he could exploit ethnic divisions, specifically targeting Iran's Sunni-majority Arab population in Khuzestan.

However, many Iranian Arabs defended their homeland, and even Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi offered his support to Iran.

In contrast, Iran's response to the 2025 and 2026 conflicts was markedly different. Unlike Iraq, the United States and Israel conducted their military campaigns primarily from the air, targeting nuclear facilities, missile installations, and security figures within the Islamic Republic. The attacks were presented as directed against the regime and its military capabilities, not the Iranian people.

While civilian casualties did occur, and there was considerable anger, Iran's history of Islamic Republic rule, protests, economic hardships, and brutal suppression of opposition made the response more complicated than in 1980.