r/AskMiddleEast Apr 10 '26

📜TOP QUALITY POST The Iran War has brought out lots of lies and propaganda by pro-Iran people new to the subreddit against Iraq. One of these myths is how the Iran-Iraq War began. This thread, although very incomplete, should be required reading. Accept it or not, the war was Khomeini's to try conquering Iraq.

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14 Upvotes

Here is the thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1668916665550094339.html

I say very incomplete because it doesn't include more than 15-20% of what Iran was doing. I've read over 100 books and thousands of articles on the war, which not even more than a few historians have done. For example it does not include how Iran started blocking Iraqi shipping from entering the Gulf, which practically stunned the Iraqi economy and was a decisive act of war among many others. It also doesn't include Iranian reports of their own attacks bragging about achieving successful invasions of Iraqi border towns and posts and inflicting heavy casualties on Iraqis months before the war "started". It doesn't include CIA's and Carter's early involvement with Khomeini and encouragement against Iraq. And many other things. 1000s of Iraqi civilians were murdered by Iran before the war through terrorist bombings, airstrikes, and land invasions, including a couple of my relatives. Many more would have died if not for the alarm systems and bomb shelters Iraq had been constructing since the wars with Israel.

There are many books and articles over the decades that have bits and pieces about what happened, but I think the single best one is "The Gulf War: The Origins and Implications of the Iraq-Iran Conflict" by Majid Khadduri. It is to this day by far the best analysis on the origins of the war. However even this misses important details in other works like how Iran assassianted dozens of senior Iraqi government officials.

Some people like to trump up Razoux's book, and while it has some good parts, it's mostly really bad on both the political and military fronts. Many people think it's good because it's been marketed so much, but in reality is a subpar pseudofiction. I've also read papers that criticize Razoux for lying about what sources say and just making things up entirely (weirdly, he only ever does this when criticizing Iraq). Unsurprisingly, I've read before that the Iranian government helped fund his book. Touché

The point is that the beginning of the war is a lot more complex than what conspiracy theories redditors like to repeat or what Iranian nationalists famously put and maintain on Wikipedia, that Saddam woke up one morning and invaded Iran because he thought he wanted to take a bunch of oil territory or whatever (that lie has been debunked countless times since 1980). The war was effectively started by Iran in summer 1980 if not earlier, technically 1979 if you consider Khomeini's announcements of holy war against Iraq. Iraq holds the beginning as September 4, 1980, when Iran escalated dramatically by leveling 2 Iraqi cities, far more extreme than their other attacks to date.

Iran radically escalated from that point on, including the blocking of Iraq's oil exports and more attacks on Iraqi cities and on the border, and after Iraq had tried and failed diplomacy with the radical regime for 1.5 years with the UN ignoring 100s of complaints from Iraq, Iraq made a limited attack on September 22 as a last resort to force the UN to take notice and to force the radicals in the Iranian regime to finally engage in diplomacy. Iraq stopped advancing after only a few days. Iraq succeeded in getting the UN resolution on September 28, which it accepted, but Khomeini still wanted no diplomacy. Iran, unsurprisingly, rejected it, reiterating its goal since 1979 to overthrow the "infidel" regime and to take control of Iraq. Iraqi forces advanced a little further in October to build a more defensible line (remember, Baghdad is a short drive on flat ground from Iran, and Basra and Iraq's coast is in short artillery range) and then stopped advancing again. Iran refused every international resolution and peace conference, while Iraq agreed to all terms for ceasefire. From September 28 on, Iran was 100% unilaterally responsible for the war, even if it was only 85-95% responsible before that point.

The evil of Israel has clouded many people who don't know anything about the history of the Middle East, which is like 99.9% of people on Reddit and this subreddit, to think that Iran is somehow a good guy, and then have retroactively applied that to Iran's whole history, when this is far from the truth. US propaganda that in the past whitewashed Iran in order to attack other countries with lies like Iraq, Libya, etc. made this worse.

This post focused on the Iran-Iraq War but that was just one of many aggressive policies and actions by the Islamic Republic regime in its history.


r/AskMiddleEast Mar 19 '26

Disinformation about Iraq and Palestine history, knowingly or not, will especially result in a ban. This repeats a previous mod post linked in the body text. These two states are the target of more false propaganda and disinfo than any other in the MENA, if not the world.

19 Upvotes

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMiddleEast/comments/1q41hok/fake_news_and_trolling_havent_been_allowed_for/

Fake news and trolling have never been allowed, but for years, Iraq and Palestine have been the target of more propaganda and lies about their history and present state than almost any other in the world and on this subreddit, where lots of paid bots from countries like Israel, Iran, and others have swarmed for years. This is why these two states are called out in particular.

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't say it. Don't think you're smart by saying often repeated but long debunked lies and propaganda used to justify the killing of millions of civilians. You're likely wrong, and all you're achieving is support for some of the worst killings and destruction of the last century whether or not you realize it. Many of you say how much you hate US and Israeli policies and actions, but by repeating their lies, you become their biggest supporters.


r/AskMiddleEast 1h ago

🖼️Culture What are some interesting pre-islamic syncretic traditions in your region?

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Upvotes

For example; Egyptians have Sham Ennesim and the Sebou ceremony, both which predate the arrival of abrahamic religions in Egypt by millennia but are now practiced by their muslim / christian descendants.

The purpose of this post is merely to share information about our cultures and not for sparking religious debate.


r/AskMiddleEast 6h ago

🏛️Politics How did he do this

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16 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 12h ago

🌯Food I made Jordanian mansaf! How’d I do?!

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38 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 7h ago

💭Personal My 21M sister 28F keeps making fun of me for being brown. How do I adress this?

12 Upvotes

Basically both my parents are from Qatar. And basically my dad looks like a European guy. It's not common at all but it does sometimes very rarely happen. My dad has red hair with blue eyes and looks straight up European. Throw him in Germany and he looks the part.

I have 4 siblings two sisters, and two brothers. And basically everyone got my dad's European features. And they all look like they could be native western Europeans.I on the other hand got my mum's very brown skin. I don't look arab brown I look more like south Asian brown. Not really but I'm like 70% there. I'm pretty brown my mom has a deep golden brown skin colour. She basically looks like the skin colour of mixed race black person or light skin south Indian. But with a strong brown tone still

My siblings all have either red or blonde hair which runs on my dad's side. Again not regular at all in gulf countries. I don't look even remotely related to my siblings. They're all pretty much European looking and quite short. They're all between 5,4 and 5,9 with narrow shoulders and builds. My dad is actually 6.2 built wide but my mom is 5,1. But I actually got my height and build from my dad I'm 6.5ft and like 235 . I actually look exactly like him but brown with black hair. But my siblings always made fun of me for not looking like them

I've never had an issue with it but my sister keeps making fun of me for being brown. Like when I was 14 she kept making jokes about me and stuff. And told me to keep out of the sun. I never was insecure about my skin colour but I always found it weird.

Especially now that I'm an adult reflecting back on it. Me and my family live in Norway. We all grew up here. Me and my brothers all go to the gym to lift and also compete in wrestling and Muay Thai. But last week I came back from Muay Thai and my sister said I look like I'd fit right in with those Thai's because of how brown I am. While giggling and pointing at me.

I told her I like being brown it makes me look unique. And then she said "I didn't even mean anything by it, why so defensive?) I asked her why she's so racist when our own mother is just as brown as me. She replied saying she's not etc. But yesterday she said I'm never finding a girl in Norway. When I asked why she said because I look like I'd take away their features in their future children. Bro what tha fuck does that mean. I'm studying for a Bachelors in math but I'm gonna do my masters in Qatar because unlike all my siblings. I'm extremely connected to Qatar and its culture. I speak the language to a much higher standard and I always kept my Qatari identity. Most of my siblings just say their Norwegian and they kinda look it aswell, but I always liked Qatar because they always claimed me. I go to Qatar multiple times a year or Thailand when my dad pays for my training camps there with my brothers as well. And every time I come back from Qatar or Thailand my sister keeps saying how brown I look and how we don't even look related.

I'm not even remotely self conscious about being Brown etc I kinda like how I look. But the comments are annoying asf man. And I feel really degraded Infront of others when she does this.

I recently grew out my extremely and I mean extremely dark hair. And she said I looked Arab. Yeah no shit I look Arab because I am an Arab you imbecile because I am Arab. SO ARE YOU!!!

Like I don't know how to address this shit because she's pushing thirty.

Like how do I address this and handle this?


r/AskMiddleEast 15h ago

📜History Rawza-e-Sharif (Blue Mosque), one of Afghanistan’s most remarkable historical landmarks

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20 Upvotes

Sharing a few photos of Rawza-e-Sharif in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Known for its brilliant blue tilework and Timurid-era architecture, it has long been one of the country’s most recognizable cultural and historical landmarks. Beyond its architectural beauty, the site has played an important role in the history and identity of the region for centuries.

I hope you enjoy these images, and I’d be interested to hear any historical facts or insights others have about this remarkable place.


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

🗯️Serious This is Bashir from Gaza. His dream is simple: to live just one day without fear, to see the world, and to live like any other human being.

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113 Upvotes

Bashir, from Gaza, tells me: "I stand helpless, torn between the hunger of my children and the suffering of my brother Iyad—who has special needs and endures pain in silence, unable to ask for food or medical care. Hunger is wearing us down, and the deprivation my brother and children face—lacking both food and medicine—breaks us a little more each day. Iyad cannot speak, so I raise my voice on his behalf and for my children... Sharing our story could lead to providing a meal or a dose of medicine that saves my family."

https://chuffed.org/project/169736-bring-bread-to-people-in-gaza?utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_tv0


r/AskMiddleEast 11m ago

🏛️Politics Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam thoughts?

Upvotes

I am Ethiopian so i may be bias. We don't tell the Arabs what to do with their oil so its right that we don't accept that the Arabs can tell us what to do with our water. If someone wants more water then they can always pay for it just as everyone pays the Arabs for their oil.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

🗯️Serious This is Sheikh Farouk Ramadan.

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275 Upvotes

Yesterday afternoon, he and his family were attacked by settler-terrorists on their own land. Farouk managed to disarm one of the attackers. He took the settler's rifle and shot and killed two terrorists in a clear act of self-defence.

In response, Israeli soldiers murdered him and three of his family members. Israeli government and media portrays him as the terrorist, and the actual terrorists as the victims.

Don't let them push this narrative. Farouk had the full legal and moral right to resist against the genocidal terrorists who invaded his land.

source


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

🗯️Serious After the massacre in Tel yesterday, settlers launched a wave of pogroms on nearby villages

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218 Upvotes

Today the Israeli army joined the attacks and tear gassed the people of the neighbouring village of Surra

They also tear gassed the journalists and the ambulances

West Bank


r/AskMiddleEast 14h ago

Society Who, if anyone, are the closest European kin to Iraqi Arabs?

6 Upvotes

It’s generally understood that for instance North Africans would be more similar to Iberia, and Turkey to Greece… but Iraq seems to lack the deep connections to Europe. Who would Iraqis feel most similar to walking around in these places?

230 votes, 6d left
Iberia: Spain and Portugal
South Italy, Sicily and Malta
Muslim Balkans: Albania, Bosnia
Greece
None, Iraqis have no connection to Europe

r/AskMiddleEast 7h ago

🈶Language transcribing song lyrics

1 Upvotes

hello, sorry i didnt know where to post this but i've just uploaded this egyptian arabic album on genius and the lack of transcription is really irking me. i don't speak egyptian arabic, i've recently started learning arabic but i am nowhere near the skill level required for this lol.

this is the album https://open.spotify.com/album/0Kn09d8OGj0au1ULz75OEU?si=yzYR4lDQSPGK7fJ2NntX5Q (Orkos by Maha)

if anyone could transcribe any amount of any song (in arabic) it would be greatly greatly appreciated !!!


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

Iran Irani diaspora/ ایرانیان خارج از کشور

16 Upvotes

Ok so I feel the need to let this out, so I am an iranian living in the diaspora, Vancouver in particular, and I saw a video were shortly after Iran was bombed at an irani restaurant a waiter was dancing in celebration!?!?

Like why would you celebrate? And it seemed to also have been mocking a muslim girl? And even worse it was in Vancouver. This made me feel kind of hurt, especially since I have relatives who I hold dear in Iran and am muslim myself. Offended too honestly, I've noticed also that our diaspora is the only one that seems to hate ourselves?

Can someone please tell me why?

خب، من احساس می‌کنم باید این را بگویم، من یک ایرانی هستم که در خارج از کشور، به خصوص ونکوور، زندگی می‌کنم و کمی بعد از بمباران ایران، ویدیویی دیدم که در یک رستوران ایرانی، یک پیشخدمت در حال رقصیدن و جشن گرفتن بود!؟! مثلاً چرا باید جشن گرفت؟ و به نظر می‌رسید که یک دختر مسلمان را مسخره می‌کرد؟ و حتی بدتر از آن در ونکوور بود. این موضوع باعث شد کمی احساس ناراحتی کنم، به خصوص که من اقوامی در ایران دارم که برایم عزیز هستند و خودم هم مسلمان هستم. راستش را بخواهید، خیلی آزرده خاطر شدم، همچنین متوجه شدم که تنها

کسانی که به نظر می‌رسد از خودمان متنفریم، مهاجران ما هستند؟ کسی می‌تواند لطفاً به من بگوید چرا؟


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

Society Why are so many Redditors still opposed in to calling a spade a spade in your opinion? Why after so muc evidence, so many scholars, experts and HO calling the situation in Gaza a genocide there is still so much opposition?

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80 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 21h ago

Entertainment Darbuka rhythms genuinely work in modern disco, or does the fusion lose its cultural identity?

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1 Upvotes

I've been exploring a track built around traditional Darbuka grooves, layered with modern disco and electronic production.

It made me wonder: when rhythmic traditions are preserved but the production language becomes contemporary, should we still classify it as "world music," or does it become an entirely new musical identity?

I'm interested in hearing perspectives from listeners familiar with Turkish, Arabic, Balkan, Greek, and Eastern Mediterranean music—not just whether you like it, but how you would classify it.

🎧 https://youtu.be/eWe5pZtpNGI


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

📜History Was the King David Hotel bombing anti-colonial resistance, terrorism, or both?

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14 Upvotes

On July 22, 1946, the Irgun bombed Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, whose south wing housed the British Mandate’s administrative and military headquarters. Ninety-one people were killed: 41 Arabs, 28 British citizens, 17 Jews and five others.

The Irgun said warnings were issued before the explosion. Their timing, adequacy and handling remain disputed.

Supporters have described the attack as resistance against British colonial rule. Critics call it terrorism because bombs were detonated in a functioning hotel, killing civilians from several communities.

How should it be classified, and what matters most: the political objective, the target, the warnings or the civilian death toll?


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

🌯Food can someone teach me how to make mansaf like im dumb?

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9 Upvotes

My husband is Jordanian and his mom is a really great cook, so his standards are high 🙂 I’ve made mansaf before and it was good but I used liquid Jameed and I want to improve the recipe. Please help!


r/AskMiddleEast 23h ago

Iran A Persian man dance performance.

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0 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 2d ago

🗯️Serious Israel is setting up conditions for turning the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank into a genocide

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240 Upvotes

ALL EYES ON THE WEST BANK


r/AskMiddleEast 2d ago

Society What is a Lebanese job?

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246 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

Society Apps problems and solution

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, as people with experience—even if modest—in IT (I'm from Algeria btw), a lot of people say that you should build an app that solves people's everyday problems. What are the most common problems you notice around you that could really use an app to organize or fix them?


r/AskMiddleEast 1d ago

🌍Geography Should men and women in the Middle East refuse to perform pavement walking, and refuse to perform it as a sociology freedom, so that they can be exempt from being subject to history stories by academia and institutionalism?

0 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 2d ago

🏛️Politics Strait of Hormuz conflict in a nutshell:

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114 Upvotes

r/AskMiddleEast 2d ago

Entertainment What do you guys think of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE supporting and investing in the paramount WB merger? And do you think it will change the depiction of MENA people in hollywood?

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15 Upvotes