Tanker Wars

By 1984 the Iran-Iraq conflict had become a war of attrition. Iraq initiated the so-called "Tanker war" with the motive of cutting off Iran's oil exports by putting the main oil exporting terminal at Kharg Island out of commission. However, neutral merchant ships became favourite targets and seventy-one merchant ships were attacked in 1984 alone.

By early 1988, at least ten Western navies and eight regional navies were patrolling in the Gulf area, which was the site of weekly incidents in which merchant vessels were crippled. The escalation culminated in July 3, 1988 during an attack by Iranian gunboats on a Pakistani merchant vessel. The USS Vincennes, patrolling the northern portion of the Straits of Hormuz, picked up an aircraft on radar moving in its direction and fired a missile, bringing the plane down what turned out to be an Iran Air commercial jet carrying 290 people; who all died in the crash.