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
Invasion of Kuwait Republican Guard or fell back to neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Iraq set up a puppet government known as the "Republic of Kuwait" to rule over Kuwait and then annexed it outright, when Saddam Hussein announced a few days later that it was the 19th province of Iraq. When the Iran–Iraq War broke out, Kuwait initially stayed neutral and also tried mediating between Iran and Iraq. In 1982, Kuwait along with other Arab states of the Persian Gulf supported Iraq in order to curb the Iranian Revolutionary government. In 1982–1983, Kuwait began sending significant financial loans to Iraq. Kuwait's large-scale