Tankers War

Significance

The Tanker War constituted a sustained campaign of attacks on merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz running across much of the Iran–Iraq War. Iraq carried out 283 attacks and Iran 168, targeting vessels that sustained the oil trade and supply lines of both belligerents and neutral states. By threatening one of the world's most critical commercial waterways, the campaign drew outside powers into the conflict and placed pressure on Gulf states dependent on oil export revenues. The cumulative disruption to neutral shipping elevated the Tanker War from a bilateral military contest into an international economic and diplomatic crisis that outlasted any single engagement.