War-shattered Persian Gulf city does not want more conflict

By Farshid Motahari Jan 13, 2012, 4:06 GMT

Khoramshahr, Iran - The Persian Gulf city of Khoramshahr in southern Iran was once one of the richest cities in the country, before former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's forces devastated the port at the initial phase of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Those who could afford it left the port for other cities, but many were forced to remain in the war-shattered city. The gradual reconstruction of the port took more than two decades.

But just when the 140,000 residents of Khoramshahr are getting used to peace, there are renewed fears of a military confrontation in the Persian Gulf.

Warnings by Iranian generals to close the Strait of Hormuz - a vital international oil shipping route in the Gulf - if oil sanctions are imposed against the Islamic state, and counter-warnings by the United States of decisively confronting such a move, have led to renewed worries in Khoramshahr.

'No, not again. We have just returned to a normal life and have no energy for another war,' said Rassoul V, 58, a supermarket owner in Khoramshahr.

The Iran-Iraq war not only devastated Rassoul's existence but also claimed the lives of his two brothers. Gradually, he rebuilt his life, got married, had children and began to enjoy some calm.

Iran has faced numerous sanctions because of its uncompromising stance in the dispute over its nuclear programme, but this time the West seems to have hit the Achilles' heel of the Iranian establishment. The new sanctions aim at the country's central bank and its oil exports, which form more than 70 per cent of Iran's income. The possible effects of such sanctions on the economy, even before being implemented, have already weakened the national currency, the rial, by up to 30 per cent.

The main leverage by Iran to avoid such sanctions would be to use its military might in the Gulf and close the Strait of Hormuz and hence block 35 per cent of the global oil export.

'In such a case military tensions would be inevitable, because neither the US, nor Europe and nor the Persian Gulf Arab states would and could tolerate the consequences of such a blockade,' said one political analyst.

Although a probable confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz would unlikely be expanded to the Iranian Gulf cities, the residents of Khoramshahr say they thought the same before the outbreak of the Iraq war.

They refer to a Persian proverb: 'Who has experienced a snakebite is even afraid of a cord.'

'Also, the Iran-Iraq war started with a small dispute over the share of the Arvand river (Shatt al-Arab) but triggered one of the longest wars in Iranian history,' said war veteran Hamid Salehi, referring to the massive casualties and damage caused by the eight-year war.

Khoramshahr has a war museum, which serves to remind the residents of Iran's 'sacred defence' against Iraq.

The museum is frequently visited by war veterans who remember the days when Iranian forces liberated the port and nearby city of Abadan from Iraqi occupation.

'We took it as our obvious duty to free our lands from Iraqi occupation,' said veteran Mohammad-Reza Taqipour.

Taqipour went to the front in 1981 when he was only 15 years old. While being transferred to a hospital for treatment, his ambulance was hit by an Iraqi rocket. He lost both his legs.

For Taqipour, it was 'better to lose both legs for a cause than in a car accident.'

Ali-Akbar Alafzadeh, another veteran who, 24 years after the ceasefire still suffers from the effects of an Iraqi chemical attack, said: 'I pray to God that there will be no new war ... I was in war for many years and I know very well that even victories have a very high cost - which are not always worth paying.'