Speaking to Khabar Online, Tabatabaei stated that the most important document on the indemnity Iraq was supposed to pay Iran is the reports submitted by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar the United Nations secretary general of the time to the UN Security Council in 1991 which introduces Iraq as the country which started the war.
"The report came after what had been requested in the article 6 of the resolution 598 earlier passed by the UN Security Council which demands to identify the aggressor in Iran-Iraq war. The second document is the verdict of the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ of the United Nations) concerning Oil Platforms as the Islamic Republic of Iran brought suit against the United States of America for the destruction of three Iranian offshore oil platforms. The verdict issued in 2003 notifies that the combat between Iran and Iraq began on September 2, 1980 when Iraqi forces occupied Iranian soil," he said.
"As a matter of fact the International Court of Justice maintains that Iraq was the initiator of war. Due to the dominant climate of international political scene of that time, if Iran had started the war, the UN Security Council would had asserted that. The silence of the Security Council implicated that it was Iraq which started the war. As the influential countries in the Security Council tended to weaken Iran and back Iraq, they preferred to avoid indicating to the role of Iraq as the aggressor," the expert noted.
Tabatabaei went on to say: "Saudi Arabia agreed to pay $50 billion worth of indemnity to Iran if it accepted the peace agreement after the liberation of Khorramashar [a key port city in Khouzaestan province of Iran] which proves it was Iraq which waged the war against Iran. The breach of international law has made Iraq accountable and that country should pay indemnity to Iran for causing humanitarian and economy damages during the war.
The imposed war, also known in Iran as "the sacred defense" began when Iraq invaded Iran, launching a simultaneous invasion by air and land. The war was extremely costly in lives and material, one of the deadliest wars since World War II. Both countries were devastated by the effect of the war. It cost Iran many casualties, killed or wounded and Iranians continue to suffer and die as a consequence of Iraq's use of chemical weapons.
The financial loss was also enormous, at the time exceeding US$600 billion for each country ($1.2 trillion in total). But shortly after the war it turned out that the economic cost of war is more profound and long-lasting than the estimates right after the war suggested.
In 2005, the new government of Iraq apologized to Iran for starting the war.