After Iraqi chemical attacks against Iranian soldiers and civilians, from 1983 to 1988, the number of people sustained injuries, including respiratory (42%), ocular (39%) and skin complications (25%) was more than 3,400 – a number which increased to at least 45,000 twenty years later, "due to the occurrence of late respiratory complications of mustard gas exposure." "The latency period can be as much as 40 years" and "So almost every day there are new cases — 30 years after the war," said Shahriar Khateri, the co-founder of the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support. According to Farhad Hashemnezhad in 2002, at least 20 percent of the patients were "civilians who didnt think they were close enough to be exposed." This large number of chemically affected veterans has made Iran the worlds largest laboratory for the study of the effects of chemical weapons. According to a declassified CIA report, as a result of Iraqs repeated use of nerve agents and toxic gases in the 1980s, Iran suffered more than 50,000 casualties mostly by mustard gas used in dusty, liquid and vapor forms packed into bombs and artillery shells which were then fired at the front lines and beyond, at targets such as hospitals. The number of registered chemically affected veterans was 70,000 by 2014, according to Shahriar Khateri, Irans leading expert on chemical weapons victims. "awareness could have saved lives," Khateri said. Doctors estimate that the final toll of Iraq's chemical weapons could be as high as 90,000, equal to the total deaths from all toxic gases in World War I.
During the Iran–Iraq War, mustard gas was used by Iraq against Iran, and it was the "first time ever that nerve agents such as sarin and tabun were employed." Experiencing the outcomes of the chemical weapons, chemical warfare veterans believe that the younger generations should be instructed that "war is not a computer game." "We want to show how painful the consequences are. We dont want revenge. We just want to show what happens so it wont happen again," said Saadi, injured by Iraqi mustard gas.