The impact of the Iran-Iraq war in shaping the identity of the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot be overestimated. Iran was a young revolutionary government enjoying popular support when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sent troops into Iran’s southwest Khuzestan region in 1980. The invasion by a neighboring country, though shocking, mobilized hundreds of thousands of Iranians and created a new avenue of revolutionary fervor.

For Iran, the war came to symbolize a fight of good versus evil, the oppressor versus the oppressed, the tyrant Saddam — funded by Arab states in the Persian Gulf, armed by Western Europe and given technology by the Americans — versus Iran, which was under international isolation and sanctions. That Iran could withstand Saddam’s army for eight years despite its many disadvantages helped solidify the idea of “resistance” in the Iranian psyche — still today one of the main causes of the Islamic Republic.

There are many efforts to remember the sacrifices of the war era in Iran today. Many streets in Tehran are named after those who died in the war. Large murals of the dead adorn the walls of Tehran’s buildings.

For some veterans, particularly those in the upper levels of the military and government, there is even nostalgia for the era. Though the reality of the early days of the revolution and the tumultuous war might be different for others and despite the massive loss of life and infrastructure, the period is remembered by some as a time when the revolutionary government had a popular cause and all political factions and ideologies worked together to defeat a common foe.