Sanctions against Iraq Sanctions against Iraq The sanctions against Iraq were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on Ba'athist Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 (after Saddam Hussein's being forced from power), and persisted in part, including reparations to Kuwait, through the present. The original stated purposes of the sanctions were to compel Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, to pay reparations, and to disclose and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction. Initially the UN Security Council imposed stringent economic sanctions on Iraq
Iraq national football team and both made it to the quarter-finals there. Iraq also qualified for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and 1988 Games in Seoul. Iraq won the gold medal at the 1982 Asian Games by defeating Kuwait 1–0 in the final, while Kuwait won the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, which they hosted. The nations also left their mark on the world stage. Kuwait qualified for the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain. Iraq matched that in Mexico 1986. As Iraq and Kuwait traded Gulf titles in 1988 and 1990, few could have imagined that their rivalry on the football field would