The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

In terms of land area, although Iraq is a big country in the Middle East, its territorial waters are very small, only about 12 nautical miles, and its coastline is only 52 kilometers. Except for the southernmost Fao Peninsula, Iraq is almost a landlocked country.

Although the coastline is very short, as the most important oil pipeline, the security of the Persian Gulf is extremely important, so Saddam attaches great importance to the construction of the navy.

It is important, but "ten years of army, a hundred years of navy" is not just talk.

Because of its own limitations and the short time, the Iraqi Navy is still a near-shore force so far, and it can even be said that it is a coast guard. In addition to being equipped with some missile boats and speedboats, the Iraqi Navy does not even have a decent frigate.

Therefore, during the Iran-Iraq War, even if it continues to this day, the Iraqi Navy cannot do it. Use the navy to blockade Abadan, thereby cutting off the Persian oil exports, so that the Persians can still export oil through Abadan oil exports, so as to use foreign exchange to purchase weapons and equipment and supplies to support the Persian war.

At this time, Abadan is an extremely important city in Persia and a port city in Khuzestan Province. It is located on Abadan Island in the Shatt al-Arab River, about 50 kilometers from the Persian Gulf. It is also a beautiful place. The winding river passes through the city, and each has its own distinctive buildings, which are reflected on the river. Only the tall chimneys of the huge refinery disturb the tranquility of the city.

The war lasted for nearly three years, and Abadan was besieged for two and a half years, but Abadan's oil refining equipment was still in operation. The Iraqis were reluctant to launch a large-scale bombardment of Abadan.

Persia has stockpiled more than 10,000 troops in Abadan, and did not fight with the Iraqis in the field. They were in the city of Abadan, preparing to fight street battles with the Iraqis.

Even, they blew up all the bridges.

The entire Abadan supply was supplied by ship.

When Rashid led his troops to arrive, he was dumbfounded when he saw the destroyed bridge.

"Damn it, such important intelligence was not reported!" Rashid cursed.

He was still thinking about leading his troops to attack Abadan and capture this port city.

But now, hope is shattered, and his troops can't get through at all.

And it is obviously not feasible to build a bridge at this time, because it will be bombarded by the Persians.

Rashid was very depressed at this time. At present, Iraq still occupies half of the land in Khuzestan Province, which is much less than the two-thirds at its peak.

Once Abadan is captured, it will not only capture an important oil city, but also end the war in this area and put more troops in other places.

When the two sides cease fire, Iraq's coastline will be directly expanded from the previous 12 nautical miles to 100 nautical miles.

As long as Abadan is not captured, the 20,000 troops here will have to besiege Abadan, and Abadan will be nailed here like a wedge.

It can be said that this place is a strategic location.

As long as Abadan is captured, the 20,000 troops besieging here will be released. Only a small number of troops need to be left, and the rest can be used to clear out the guerrillas.

Moreover, the refinery here will become Iraq's, bringing a lot of benefits to Iraq.

The Abadan refinery is a large refinery with a crude oil refining capacity of 30 million tons, and its refining capacity accounts for 60% of Persia's overall refining capacity.

This is a cornucopia that can produce gold.

Due to the war, the world situation is not stable, which has led to the world crude oil price rising from $14/barrel to $20/barrel, and then from $20/barrel to $30/barrel or even $40/barrel, and the maximum peak has reached $50/barrel.

Even with the end of the fifth Middle East war, oil prices have begun to fall, but now the price is still maintained at a high level of $35/barrel. The price of refined oil will increase at least four times. Excluding costs, the profit per barrel of refined oil will be at least $100.

That is to say, the Abadan refinery can bring in 20 billion US dollars a year!

It can be said that the Abadan refinery is a money printing machine.

As long as Abadan is taken, even without the support of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Iraq has the ability to continue the war, and can continue indefinitely without considering the consumption of bullets and artillery shells.

20 billion US dollars a year, so much money is enough for battlefield consumption.

Of course, the output of oil fields in southern Iraq is not much, most of which can be refined by the Basra refinery, while the oil fields in the north are almost all transported to all parts of the world through the oil pipeline passing through Turkey.

However, Iraq has its own iron ally-Kuwait!

Kuwait is located in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia and the northwest of the Persian Gulf. It borders Saudi Arabia in the south and Iraq in the north. Kuwait has an area of ​​only 17,800 square kilometers and a population of only 1.6 million. However, Kuwait is rich in oil and natural gas resources, with proven oil reserves of 94 billion barrels, about 10% of the world's total reserves, which makes Kuwait rich.

In the Iran-Iraq War, Kuwait was a country that stood firmly behind Iraq.

The friendship between the two sides is very firm.

When there was no money, Kuwait would always lend money to Iraq.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are Iraq's biggest financial backers.

It is precisely because of the two huge financial backers that Iraq has enough confidence to continue the war.

As long as Abadan is captured, Iraq can rely on its friendship with Kuwait to continuously refine Kuwait's crude oil into refined oil and make continuous profits.

Rashid looked at Abadan across the river and sighed.

Then, he left with his troops.

There are two divisions of troops here itself, surrounding Abadan. His troops cannot cross the river, and there is no use staying here.

At this time, news of the destruction of the tank armored division also reached Tehran.

This made Tehran's top leaders extremely angry. In less than a month, two tank and armored divisions were wiped out, and they were still lost in the hands of the same force.

The Iran-Iraq war continues to this day, and the Persians have suffered extremely heavy losses.

Before the war, the Persian army had a total of more than 400,000 people. The equipment of the army, navy and air force were imported from the United States and the United Kingdom, and all of them were active main battle equipment manufactured by the United States and the United Kingdom.

The tanks of the Persian Army are manufactured by Britain and the United States - M47 and M48 tanks, M60 tanks (main battle tanks currently in service in the US Army), and Chieftain tanks (main battle tanks currently in service in the British Army). The aircraft of the Persian Air Force are all made in the United States, including F4 fighter jets, F5 fighter jets and F14 fighter jets. The F4 is the main fighter jet of the US military, and the F14 is the third generation carrier-based aircraft of the Navy. The United States only exports to Iran in the world, and the F5 fighter jet is an ally of the United States. A dedicated export-oriented fighter jet.

However, after nearly three years of war, these weapons and equipment were almost exhausted. Almost all the tanks from the Pahlavi Dynasty were destroyed, and more than half of the American-made aircraft in the Air Force were also damaged.

Now more than 1,000 Type 59 tanks, Type 62 light tanks and other armored vehicles have been lost.