During the war between Iran and Iraq in 1981-1988, these two nations engaged in a “tanker war”: both combatant and neutral shipping (particularly Kuwaiti shipping) was attacked. Most ominously, the Iraqis repeatedly attempted to put Iran’s main export facility at Kharg Island out of commission. When Lloyd’s of London sharply increased insurance premiums on Gulf-bound vessels, both the Soviet Union and the United States chartered tankers and “reflagged” them under their own colors to force the combatants to think twice about continued assaults.
