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Issue Date: August 26, 1988

Persian Gulf Cease-fire Takes Effect Chronology of the Persian Gulf War

Following is a chronology of major events in the eight-year-old Persian Gulf war:

Sept. 17, 1980--Iraq abrogates 1975 Algiers treaty with Iran and claims sovereignty over the entire Shatt al-Arab waterway between the two countries. Border clashes, which had broken out earlier in the month, erupt again.

Sept. 20-22, 1980--Full-scale war breaks out as both sides exchange air and artillery attacks and Iraqi ground forces invade Iran.

October 1980--Iraq occupies a strip of Iranian territory six to 25 miles (10 to 40 km) wide and 375 miles (600 km) long. Petrochemical facilities of both sides are badly damaged. Iraq Oct. 24 captures the vital port of Khorramshahr.

Sept. 27-29, 1981--Iranian counterattack pushes Iraqis over Karun River, ending the siege of Abadan.

March 22-31, 1982--Iranian spring offensive drives Iraqi forces back in Shush-Dizful area. Teheran promises not to invade Iraq.

April 8-10, 1982--Syria closes border with Iraq and shuts down oil pipeline carrying Iraqi crude to the Mediterranean Sea.

May 24, 1982--Iran recaptures Khorramshahr.

June 1982--Iraq claims it has withdrawn from Iran and offers a cease-fire. Iran rejects the offer, reiterating its demands for reparations and the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

July 14, 1982--Iranian troops cross the border for the first time but are stalled in their drive on Basra.

August 1982--Iraq announces maritime exclusion zone in northern gulf; any vessels entering it are open to attack.

1983--Iran launches new offensives in February and April; in July its forces capture Haj Omran in Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraq steps up air attacks and missile strikes on Iranian economic and civilian targets.

February-March 1984--Iran mounts a major offensive, seizing the oil-rich Majnoon islands but failing to take Basra. Evidence arises of Iraqi use of chemical weapons, which continues throughout the conflict. Iraq also begins air attacks on oil tankers serving Iran. May--Iran retaliates by hitting Kuwaiti and Saudi vessels; the "tanker war" heats up.

March 1985--Iraq repels a massive Iranian attack on the southern front, inflicting immense casualties. The "War of the Cities" begins, with Iranian missiles hitting Baghdad in reprisal for Iraqi air raids on Teheran and other urban centers.

February 1986--Iran captures disused Iraqi oil port at the Fao peninsula. Military analysts view Iraq as a steady loser.

May 1986--Iraqi counterattack captures Mehran in Iran but loses it in July.

August-December 1986--Iraq keeps up pressure by launching long-distance raids on Iranian oil ports at the mouth of the gulf.

November 1986--Secret U.S. arms sales to Iran are revealed.

January 1987--Iran mounts another drive on Basra but is halted on the outskirts, suffering huge losses. The "War of the Cities" resumes.

May 17, 1987--Mistaken Iraqi missile attack on the U.S.S. Stark kills 37 sailors.

July 20, 1987--U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 598 on ending the war. Iraq accepts it but Iran hedges.

July 24, 1987--The first reflagged Kuwaiti supertanker being escorted by U.S. Navy warships, the Bridgeton, strikes a mine.

August-September 1987--Western European nations send minesweeping forces to the gulf.

Sept. 21, 1987--U.S. helicopters destroy an Iranian mine-laying vessel and sink three Iranian speedboats Oct. 8.

Oct. 19, 1987--U.S. forces destroy two Iranian oil platforms in retaliation for a Silkworm missile attack on a reflagged Kuwaiti tanker.

January-February 1988--Iran postpones its annual offensive amid a manpower shortage.

Feb. 29, 1988--The "War of the Cities" resumes, with Iran suffering the brunt of attacks over the next several months. Teheran residents are reported demoralized by the rain of Iraqi missiles.

March 15-17, 1988--Iranian forces and Kurdish guerrillas capture Halabjah. An Iraqi counterattack with poison gas kills as many as 5,000 Kurds.

April 1988--Iraq retakes Fao. A U.S. frigate hits a mine and the Navy retaliates by destroying two Iranian oil rigs and sinking or damaging six vessels.

May 25, 1988--Iraq recaptures the Shalamcheh marshes east of Basra and crushes an Iranian counterattack June 13-14. Baghdad is now seen as having regained the battlefield initiative.

June 25, 1988--Iraq retakes the Majnoon islands and drives Iran out of its Kurdish footholds July 12-14.

July 3, 1988--U.S.S. Vincennes mistakenly shoots down a civilian Iranian Airbus, killing all 290 aboard.

July 18, 1988--Iran accepts U.N. Resolution 598. Iraq stalls and launches a new offensive into Iranian territory.

Aug. 8, 1988--U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announces Iraqi and Iranian acceptance of truce terms.

Aug. 20, 1988--Cease-fire takes effect.

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