The War was an armed conflict between homeland and Iraq lasting from 22 September 1980, when Iraq invaded homeland, to August 1988. The war followed a long history of border disputes, and was motivated by fears that the Revolution in 1979 would inspire insurgency among Iraq’s Shi’ite majority, as well as Iraq’s desire to replace Iran as the dominant Persian Gulf state. Iraq planned to annex the oil-rich Khuzestan Province and the east bank of the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rud).