Order of battle during the Iran–Iraq War

These are the orders of battle of the Iraqi and Iranian armies for the start of the Iran–Iraq War in 1980. The data is drawn from the Air Combat Information Group's Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf Database.

Iraq

Iraqi Army

1st Army Corps (sector between Rawanduz and Marivan)

• 7th Infantry Division (HQ Sulaimaniyah, Iraq)
• 11th Infantry Division (HQ Sulaimaniyah, Iraq) (-) (113th Infantry Brigade)

2nd Army Corps (sector between Qasre-e-Shirin, Ilam, and Mehran, armor deployed between Mehran and Dezful)

• 6th Armored Division (HQ Baqubah, Iraq) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• 9th Armored Division (HQ Samavah, Iraq) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• ?10th Armored Division (HQ Baghdad, Iraq) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• 2nd Infantry Division (HQ Kirkuk, Iraq)
• 4th Infantry Division (HQ Mosul, Iraq)
• 6th Infantry Division (HQ Baqubah, Iraq)
• 8th Infantry Division (HQ Arbil, Iraq)

3rd Army Corps (HQ al-Qurnah, Iraq) (Sector between Dezful and Abadan)

• 3rd Armored Division (HQ Tikrit, Iraq) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• ?10th Armored Division (HQ Baghdad, Iraq) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• 12th Armored Division (HQ Dohuk, Iraq) (Held in Reserve) 300 (T-62) (BMP-1)
• 1st Mechanized Division (HQ Divaniyah, Iraq) 200 (T-55) (Czech OT-64 APC/BTR-50 APC)
• 5th Mechanized Division (HQ Basrah, Iraq) 200 (T-55) (Czech OT-64 APC/BTR-50 APC)
• 31st Independent Special Forces Brigade (-) (2 battalions) (one was attached to 5th MD, another to 3rd AD),
• 33rd Independent Special Forces Brigade
• 10th Independent Armored Brigade (T-72) (BMP-1)
• 12th Independent Armored Brigade (T-62) (BMP-1)
• 113th Infantry Brigade (Detachments) (From 11th Infantry Division)

Islamic Republic of Iran

Islamic Republic of Iran Army

Units Garrisoned along the Iraqi Border

• 16th Armored Division (Ghazvin, Iran) (Chieftain, M113)
• 81st Armored Division (Kermanshah, Iran) (M60A1) (M113)
• 92nd Armored Division (Khuzestan, Iran) (M60A1 MBT) (M113)
• 21st Infantry Division (Tehran, Iran)
• 28th Infantry Division (Sanandaj, Saquez, and Marivan, Iran) (1 Armored Brigade) (M60A1) (M113)
• 64th Infantry Division (Orumiyeh, Iran)
• 77th Infantry Division (Khorasan, Iran) (1 Armored Brigade) (M48 MBT) (BTR-50)
• 37th Armored Brigade (Shiraz, Iran)
• 88th Armored Brigade (Zahedan (M47 MBT) (covering the borders to Afghanistan and Pakistan)
• 30th Infantry Brigade (Gorgan, Iran)
• 84th Infantry Brigade (Khoramabad, Iran) (Deployed in Field) (Connecting the positions of the 81st and 92nd AD)
• 23rd Airborne Special Forces Brigade (Tehran, Iran) (Deployed along the Iraqi border in 13 separate Detachments)
• 55th Airborne Brigade (Shiraz, Iran) (One battalion deployed in Sardasht, and a company each in Sanandaj and Dezful, Iran)
• 11th Independent Artillery Group
• 22nd Independent Artillery Group (Khuzestan, Iran)
• 33rd Independent Artillery Group
• 44th Independent Artillery Group
• 55th Independent Artillery Group (Khuzestan, Iran)

Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Among later Iranian Revolutionary Guards formations involved was the 33rd Al-Mahdi Division.

Sources

• Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, with additional details from N. R., I Persian Gulf War: Iraqi Invasion of Iran, September 1980, Sep 9, 2003, 06:33, Air Combat Information Group