During the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), Iraq engaged in chemical warfare against Iran on multiple occasions, including more than 30 targeted attacks on Iranian civilians. Iran employed its own chemical warfare against Iraq on a few occasions during the war as well. Iraq's attacks represented the third deadliest use of chemical weapons in history, following The Holocaust and chemical warfare in World War I. Originally using mustard gas alone, in 1984 Iraq initiated the first verified combat use of nerve agents in history, beginning with tabun before moving to sarin.
The Iraqi chemical weapons program, which had been active since the 1970s, was aimed at regulated offensive use, as evidenced in the chemical attacks against Iraqi Kurds as part of the Anfal campaign in the late 1980s.