Iraq, Iran exchange the remains of 120 soldiers

Iraq and Iran on Tuesday exchanged the remains of 120 soldiers who were killed during their war (1980- 1988 ).

Iraq handed Iran the remains of 88 Iranian soldiers while Iran handed Iraq the remains of 32 Iraqi soldiers most of them are of unidentified identity.

The exchange operation was made in al-Fakkeh border area which belongs to al-Abbara province ( 400 Km to the southern east of Baghdad ) in the presence of officials in the two countries responsible for the humanitarian file. Since the bloody war between them from 1980 to 1988 which resulted in more than one million killings, the two countries often make remains exchange operations. No peace agreement was signed between the two countries after the end of the war, and both Baghdad and Tehran did not sign a peace agreement between the two countries after the end of the war.

However, Baghdad and Tehran have not yet normalized their relations in full and they still keep diplomatic relations at the level of charge de affairs. The issue of prisoners and the missing still constitute the main bulwark before the normalization of relations between the two countries, 12 years following the end of the war.