In 1979, Iran underwent a religious revolution against the westernized leadership of the nation; Islamic religious leaders objected to reforms that they felt threatened the country's traditional values. In November of 1979, supporters of the revolution

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In 1979, Iran underwent a religious revolution
against the westernized leadership of the nation
Islamic religious leaders objected to reforms
that they felt threatened the country's
traditional values. In November of 1979,
supporters of the revolution seized the United
States Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans as
hostages, holding most of them for more than a
year.
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• War raged between Iraq and Iran from 1980 until
  1988 over a border dispute and because of fear by
  Iraqs dictator, Saddam Hussein, that religious
  propaganda from Irans religious revolution could
  lead to a religious revolt in Iraq, as well.
  Also Saddam believed that Iran was weak following
  its revolution.

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During the Iraq-Iran War, neither country
followed the usual rules of war. Iraq used
chemical weapons against Iranian forces and
against Iraqi Kurds whom Iraq claimed were
helping the Iranians. No country had used such
weapons on a large scale since World War I.
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Iran sent young village boys through minefields
ahead of its troops. Many of the boys set off the
land mines, giving up their lives so that the
troops behind would have a clearer path.
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Eventually Iran and Iraq agreed to share control
of the Shatt Al-'Arab river. The Iraq-Iran war
ended with no real change of territory, but the
war did lead to a great growth of Iraqs armed
forces, which were helped by support from the
United States during the conflict. (Remember
that Iran was our enemy during this time they
held our embassy people hostage for over a year
following their revolution.)
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Iraqi forces under orders from the Sunni dictator
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August of 1990.
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The United Nations responded by forming a UN
coalition of countries, led by the United States,
which drove Saddams forces out of Kuwait in
1991.
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At the invitation of its king, coalition forces
fighting against Iraq were based in Saudi Arabia,
and US military bases remained there until after
9/11/2001.
This is a map from 2002.
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The Saudi Arabian monarchy supported this move
because they felt their own border with Iraq was
threatened by Saddams aggression. Notice the
location of Saudi oil fields.
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As Iraqi forces left Kuwait they set the oil
wells on fire, creating a major environmental
disaster.
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Though the Persian Gulf War was successful in
freeing Kuwait, Hussein remained in power. UN
sanctions, or limitations, were placed on Iraqs
oil sales to limit Saddams military spending and
thus lessen his military threat to other nations.

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UN sanctions also required that UN Weapons
Inspectors be allowed inside any Iraqi facility
to investigate and make sure no weapons of mass
destruction (WMDs), were being made there and
that the ones he previously had (chemical
weapons) were destroyed. WMDs - include
chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. These
are seen as being different from conventional
weapons
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Also, no-fly zones were established to protect
the Kurds and Shia Muslims in the north and south
of Iraq from more of Saddams attacks.
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9/11/2001
This event makes our government extraordinarily
sensitive to possible threats from the Middle
East.
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After 9/11 with fear of further attack from
groups from the Middle East, the US
administration came to believe that Saddam
Hussein was still hiding WMDs and that there were
ties between Iraq and members of the terrorist
group Al Qaeda.
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For these reasons, the US tried to gain UN
support in invading Iraq, but the UN did not vote
to support the US invasion.
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This invasion was never sanctioned by the UN, and
several of our allies refused to participate.
Those who did formed what was called The
Coalition of the Willing.
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By 2003 continued Iraqi failure to obey the UN
resolutions resulted in the US-led invasion of
Iraq in March 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam
Husseins regime.
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As it turned out, Saddam was bluffing about his
WMD capacity to keep Iran from attacking, but we
were also fooled, to Saddams detriment.
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U.S. and Iraqi security forces have had to
struggle with Iraqi and Islamic insurgencies and
sectarian violence that military and civilian
planners had failed to foresee.
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Some US forces remain in Iraq today, trying to
restore poor infrastructure and helping to
support an elected government, while
simultaneously dealing with the insurgency which
escalated into what at one point amounted to a
civil war within Iraq between the Sunnis and Shia.
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No WMDs or pre-9/11 ties to Al Qaeda have ever
been found, though Al Qaeda moved into Iraq
during the war.
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The U.S. is slowly removing troops from the
nation, and the Iraqi government is taking more
and more responsibility for running the country,
but currently, Sunni-Shia violence is on the
rise, and it seems that more Iraqis are joining
the Al Qaeda network there.
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Iraqs Oil Fields