a greater percentage of SAMs due to their higher bombing altitude and improved electronic countermeasures. During the mid-1970s, tensions with Iran were high but were later resolved with the Algiers Treaty. 1980s and war with Iran Between the autumn of 1980 and the summer of 1990, the number of aircraft in the IQAF went from 332 to over 1000. Before the Iraqi invasion of Iran, the IQAF had expected 16 modern Dassault Mirage F.1EQs from France and were also in the middle of receiving a total of 240 new aircraft and helicopters from their Eastern European allies. When Iraq invaded Iran in late September 1980, the Soviets and the French stopped delivering additional aircraft to Iraq but resumed deliveries a few months later. The IQAF had to instead fight with obsolete Su-20, MiG-21 Fishbeds and MiG-23 Floggers. The MiG-21 was the main interceptor of the force while their MiG-23s were used for ground attack and interception. The Su-20 were pure ground attack aircraft. On the first day of the war, formations of Tu-16/22s, Su-20s, MiG-23s and MiG-21s, for a total of 166–192 aircraft, performed surprise airstrikes on 10 airbases of the Iranian Air Force, succeeding in destroying a large of number of fighter-bomber aircraft on the ground, but not enough to knock the Iranian Air Force out. In retaliation for these aerial strikes, the Iranian Air Force launched Operation Kaman 99 a day after the war was launched. During late 1981, it was soon clear that the modern Mirage F1s and the Soviet MiG-25s were effective against the Iranians. The IQAF began to use their new Eastern weaponry which included Tu-22KD/KDP bombers, equipped with Kh-22M/MP air-to-ground missiles, MiG-25s equipped with Kh-23 air-to-ground missiles as well as Kh-25 and Kh-58 anti-radar missiles and also MiG-23BNs, equipped with Kh-29L/T missiles. In 1983, to satisfy the Iraqis waiting for their upgraded Exocet-capable Mirage F1EQ-5s, Super Etendards were leased to Iraq. The Iranian oil tanker fleet (see Tanker War) and gunboats suffered severe damage at the hands of the 5 Super Etendards equipped with Exocet anti-ship missiles. One of these was lost during their 20-month combat use and 4 returned to the Aeronavale in 1985. The IQAF generally played a major role in the war against Iran by striking airbases, military infrastructure, industrial infrastructure such as factories, powerplants and oil facilities, as well as systematically bombing urban areas in Tehran and other major Iranian