The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 326: Each River Sighs (Subscribe)

In terms of land area, Iraq is a large country in the Middle East, but its territorial waters are very small, only about 12 nautical miles, and its coastline is only 52 kilometers. Except for the southernmost part of the territory, the Fao Peninsula, Iraq is basically a landlocked country.

Although the coastline is very short, as the most important oil pipeline, the security of the Persian Gulf is extremely important, so Saddam attaches great importance to the construction of the navy.

It is important to pay attention to it, but 'ten years for the army, a hundred years for the navy' is not just talk.

Due to its own limitations and the short time, the Iraqi Navy is still a coastal force so far, or even a coast guard. In addition to some missile boats and speedboats, the Iraqi Navy does not even have a decent frigate.

Therefore, during the Iran-Iraq War, even until now, the Iraqi Navy has been unable to blockade Abadan with its navy, thereby cutting off the Persian oil exports, allowing the Persians to continue to export oil through the Abadan oil export, and use foreign exchange to purchase weapons and equipment and supplies to support the Persians.

At this time, Abadan was an extremely important city in Persia and a port city in Khuzestan Province. It was located on Abadan Island in the Shatt al-Arab River, about 50 kilometers from the Persian Gulf. It was also a beautiful place with a winding river running through the city. Each of the distinctive buildings was reflected on the river. Only the tall chimneys of the huge refinery disturbed the tranquility of the city.

The war lasted for nearly three years, and Abadan was besieged for two and a half years, but Abadan's oil refineries were still operating, and the Iraqis were reluctant to launch a large-scale artillery attack on Abadan.

Persia had stockpiled more than 10,000 troops in Abadan, and instead of engaging in a field battle with the Iraqis, they were preparing to engage in street fighting with the Iraqis inside the city of Abadan.

They even blew up the bridges.

The entire Abadan’s supplies are delivered by ship.

When Rashid led his troops to the scene, they were also stunned when they saw the destroyed bridge.

"Asshole, you didn't even report such important information!" Rashid cursed.

He also thought about leading his troops to attack Abadan and capture this port city.

But now, all hope was gone and his troops simply couldn't survive.

However, building a bridge at this time was obviously not feasible because it would be bombarded by the Persians.

Rashid was very depressed at this time. Iraq currently occupied half of the land in Khuzestan Province, which was a significant decrease from the two-thirds at its peak.

Once Abadan is captured, it will not only mean the capture of an important oil city, but also the end of the war in the area, allowing more troops to be deployed elsewhere.

When the two sides cease fire, Iraq's coastline will expand directly from the previous 12 nautical miles to 100 nautical miles.

As long as Abadan is not captured, the 20,000 troops here will have to besiege Abadan, and Abadan will be like a wedge nailed here.

It can be said that this place is a very strategic location.

As long as Abadan is captured, the 20,000 troops besieging it will be released. Only a small number of troops need to be left behind, and the rest can be used to wipe out the guerrillas.

Moreover, the refinery here will become Iraq's, bringing huge benefits to Iraq.

The Abadan Refinery is a large refinery with a crude oil refining capacity of 30 million tons, and its refining capacity accounts for 60% of Persia's total refining capacity.

This is a treasure pot that can produce gold.

Due to the war, the world situation is not stable, which has caused the world crude oil price to rise from $14/barrel to $20/barrel, and then from $20/barrel to $30/barrel and even $40/barrel, with the maximum peak reaching $50/barrel. Even with the end of the fifth Middle East war, the oil price began to fall, but now it still remains at a high level of $35/barrel. The price of refined oil will at least increase fourfold. Excluding costs, the profit of each barrel of refined oil will be at least $100.

That is to say, the Abadan refinery can bring in 200 billion US dollars a year!
It can be said that the Abadan Refinery is a money printing machine.

As long as Abadan is captured, Iraq will be able to continue the war indefinitely even without the support of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

200 billion US dollars every year, this amount of money is more than enough to cover the battlefield consumption.

Of course, the output of oil fields in southern Iraq is not large, most of which can be refined by the Basra refinery, while the oil fields in the north are almost all transported to all parts of the world through oil pipelines passing through Turkey.

But Iraq has its own staunch ally - Kuwait!

Kuwait is located in the northeast of the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia and the northwest of the Persian Gulf. It borders Saudi Arabia in the south and Iraq in the north. Kuwait has an area of ​​only 1.78 square kilometers and a population of only 160 million. However, Kuwait is rich in oil and natural gas resources, with proven oil reserves of 940 billion barrels, accounting for about 10% of the world's total reserves, making Kuwait extremely rich.

During the Iran-Iraq War, Kuwait was a country that stood firmly behind Iraq.

The friendship between the two sides is very firm.

When Kuwait was short of money, it would always lend money to Iraq out of its own pocket.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are Iraq's biggest financial backers.

It is precisely because of the two huge financial backers behind it that Iraq has enough confidence to continue the war.

As long as Abadan is taken, Iraq can rely on its friendship with Kuwait to continuously refine Kuwait's crude oil into finished oil and make continuous profits.

Rashid looked at Abadan across the river and sighed.

Then he left with his troops.

There are already two divisions of troops surrounding Abadan here. His troops cannot cross the river, and there is no point in staying here.

At this time, the news that the tank armored division had been destroyed also reached Tehran.

This made the top leaders in Tehran extremely angry. In just less than a month, two tank armored divisions were destroyed, and they were lost at the hands of the same unit.

The Iran-Iraq War continues to this day, and the Persians have suffered extremely heavy losses.

Before the war, Persia's army had a total of more than 40 people, and the equipment of the army, navy and air force were all imported from the United States and Britain, all of which were active main combat equipment manufactured in the United States and Britain.

波斯陆军的坦克为英美制造——M47和M48坦克、M60坦克（美国陆军现役主战坦克）、酋长坦克（英军现役的主战坦克）。波斯空军的飞机为清一色的美国制造，F4战斗机、F5战斗机和F14战斗机，F4为美军的主力战斗机、F14为海军第三代舰载机，全世界美国只出口给伊朗，F5战斗机是美国为盟友打造的专用出口型战斗机。

However, after nearly three years of war, these weapons and equipment were almost exhausted. The tanks from the Pahlavi dynasty were almost all destroyed, and more than half of the American-made aircraft in the Air Force were lost.

Now, even the Type 59 tanks, Type 62 light tanks and other armored vehicles have been lost for more than 1000 vehicles.

(End of this chapter)