War of the Cities

The War of the Cities were five series of air raids, missile attacks, and artillery shellings on major cities and urban areas initiated by Saddam's Iraq with the aim of disrupting the morale of the Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war. The first strikes were undertaken by the Iraqi Air Force, after which the Iranian Armed Forces retaliated with similar strikes. The aim of disrupting the morale of the enemy proved impossible though, as the strikes only caused greater support and patriotism in the struck areas.

The Iraqis attacked major cities of Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and Shiraz, as well as towns in western Iran. The Iranians were mostly targeting Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Basra.

While Iraq had launched numerous attacks with aircraft and missiles against border cities from the beginning of the war and sporadic raids on Iran's main cities, this was the first systematic strategic bombing that Iraq carried out during the war. This would become known as the "War of the Cities". With the help of the USSR and the West, Iraq's air force had been rebuilt and expanded. Meanwhile, Iran, due to sanctions and lack of spare parts, had heavily curtailed its air force operations. Iraq used Tu-22 Blinder and Tu-16 Badger strategic bombers to carry out long-range high-speed raids on Iranian cities, including Tehran. Fighter-bombers such as the MiG-25 Foxbat and Su-22 Fitter were used against smaller or shorter range targets, as well as escorting the strategic bombers. Civilian and industrial targets were hit by the raids, and each successful raid inflicted economic damage from regular strategic bombing.

In response, the Iranians deployed F-4 Phantoms to combat the Iraqis, and eventually they deployed F-14s as well. By 1986, Iran also expanded its air defense network to take the load of the fighting off the air force. Later in the war, Iraqi raids primarily consisted of missile attacks while air attacks were used on fewer, more important targets. Starting in 1987, Saddam also ordered several chemical attacks on civilian targets in Iran, such as the town of Sardasht.

...
Wikipedia