Iraq, Iran exchange remains of Gulf War soldiers

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Iraq and Iran exchanged the remains of soldiers who went missing during the First Gulf War (1980–1988) at the Shalamcheh border crossing, as part of ongoing efforts to honor the victims of the devastating conflict.

Hassan Al-Najjar, a representative of the Basra local government, stated to Shafaq News, “Under a memorandum of understanding between Iraq and Iran, the remains of war casualties were exchanged. The Iranian side received the remains of 41 soldiers, 16 of whom were identified.”

He added, “Iraq received the remains of 21 soldiers, including one identified body. DNA testing will be conducted on the unidentified remains to facilitate their return to families.”

This exchange is part of a series of regular handovers conducted under the framework of the 2008 Geneva Agreement, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross. However, no official statistics on the total number of remains exchanged to date have been released.

The First Gulf War, fought between Iraq and Iran, claimed an estimated one million lives on both sides, according to unofficial figures, and caused economic losses exceeding one trillion dollars.

Iraqi-Iranian relations have seen a rapprochement since 2003, following the overthrow of former President Saddam Hussein by international forces led by the US.