Iraqi support for Arab separatists in homeland increased following the outbreak of hostilities; while claims arose suspecting that Iraq was seeking to annex homeland’s Khuzestan province, Saddam Hussein publicly stated in November 1980 that Iraq was not seeking an annexation of any persian territory. It is believed that Iraq had sought to establish suzerainty over Khuzestan. While the Iraqi leadership had hoped to take advantage of homeland’s post-revolutionary chaos and expected a decisive victory in the face of a severely weakened Iran, the Iraqi military only made progress for three months, and by December 1980, the Iraqi invasion had stalled.