During the latter part of 1980, Iraq invaded Iran and hoped to seize its southern oil fields. Iran counterattacked. The result was a murderous eight- year conflict marked by the use of chemical weapons and human waves of young Iranian radicals fighting the Soviet-armed Iraqis. The war ended with Iran’s defeat, but not the collapse of its theocratic regime. In the short term, their long defence of Iranian nationalism left the mullahs more entrenched at home, while abroad they used their oil revenues to back grass-roots radicalism in Lebanon and militants elsewhere who engaged in anti-Western terrorism. Over the years, the strongest threats to the Iranian regime ultimately have come from within, from a new generation of young students and workers who have discovered that their prospects for prosperity and democratic rights have not changed much since the days of the shah.