Iraq, Iran exchange soldier remains from 1980–1988 war
BASRA
Iraq and Iran have exchanged the remains of soldiers killed during the 1980–1988 war in a ceremony at the Shalamcheh border crossing in Basra.
Iraqi forces handed over 48 Iranian remains, while Iran returned seven identified and 63 unidentified Iraqi remains, which will undergo DNA testing in Baghdad.
The process, supervised by the International Committee of the Red Cross, is part of ongoing humanitarian efforts under a 2008 Geneva agreement to recover and repatriate soldiers’ remains.
Officials said search operations will continue until all missing soldiers from both sides are accounted for.
Iran’s Consul General in Basra, Ali Abadi, described the handover as a return of “martyrs of the Islamic Republic” buried on Iraqi soil, while Iraqi authorities emphasized the long-term commitment to identifying and returning remains.
Similar exchanges have been conducted regularly over the years through the Iraqi–Iranian Joint Committee.
The Iran–Iraq War, sparked by Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime confronting the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran, lasted eight years and claimed over 1 million lives, leaving lasting economic and human impacts on both nations.
