Blood and Oil: The 1985 Persian Gulf Tanker War

“If they help Saddam Hussein attack our economic resources they will not see oil.” –Ayatollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. January 1985 marked over four years of bloody war between Iraq and Iran. The previous year Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, initiated a new campaign in the war with Iran by having his air force target the Iranian Kharg Island oil installations and any shipping caught loading there. Saddam realized that if Iran’s ability to sell oil was successfully brought under attack, that nation’s ability to wage war would be severely impacted. In response, Iran constructed a floating terminal at Sirri Island that was beyond the range of Iraqi warplanes. Iranian tankers ferried oil from Kharg Island to Sirri where the Iranian oil could then be safely off-loaded. What ensued was an escalating war in the Persian Gulf in which Iraqi warplanes targeted any vessel suspected of heading for any of Iran’s ports, and similar efforts by Iran’s warplanes, ships and Pasdaran militia attack boats targeting ships they believed were heading for Iraq and ports in Arab nations sympathetic to their enemy. 1985 promised to be a year in which the violence of the growing “Tanker War” could spread throughout the region and threaten the economies of nations all over the globe. In Blood and Oil players take on the roles of the leaders of the Iran and Iraq military forces fighting the 1985 Tanker War in a moderate complexity level wargame. Can you do as well or better than your historical counterpart? —description from the publisher