September 22, 1980

Iran–Iraq War

Iraq launches its full-scale invasion of Iran

Iraqi squadrons received their attack plans two days before the invasion, with no time to rehearse. Most Iranian aircraft survived the opening raids.

Ten airports, three fronts

On 22 September 1980, Iraq turned escalating border fighting into full-scale war, striking ten major Iranian airports from the air and invading along three fronts.

Iraqi aircraft hit bases near Tehran and at Tabriz, Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Dezful, Urmia, Hamadan, Sanandaj and Abadan. Six divisions are reported to have crossed, advancing as far as 8 kilometres into Iran in the opening attack.

Toward Khuzestan

Ground formations pushed toward Qasr-e Shirin in the north and into oil-producing Khuzestan toward objectives including Dezful, Khorramshahr and Abadan.

Baghdad had renounced the 1975 Algiers Agreement on 17 September, after months of border clashes and mutual subversion, and moved to exploit Iran's post-revolutionary military disruption.

That 1975 settlement had placed the Shatt al-Arab boundary along the thalweg, the main navigational channel, in exchange for Iran ending its support to Iraq's Kurdish rebellion.

The raid that did not work

The opening strike was surprising but was not a repeat of Israel's 1967 destruction of Egypt's air force. Most Iranian combat aircraft survived.

Iran began retaliatory air attacks within hours and mounted broader counterstrikes against Iraqi bases the following day.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 8 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The exact “deliver its fatal blow” quotation could not be traced to a primary or strong scholarly source consulted here. The military actions and date are independently well established.
Accounts differ on whether the main ground crossing should be described as occurring on September 22 or September 23. Encyclopaedia Iranica and the Library of Congress country study place ground operations with the September 22 opening; some military chronologies emphasize the following day.