effective on the battlefield, but available in large numbers as well. After the fall of the Shah in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the situation changed dramatically. In 1979 the U.S. placed an armament embargo on Iran, preventing it from getting many spare parts to keep the fleet flying. To make matters worse, the new theocratic government carried out purges of suspected Shah loyalists in the armed forces, especially in the renamed Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). The purges greatly weakened the air force and left the 180 Phantoms still in service, largely without trained air and ground crews. The Iran–Iraq War began in September 1980 with Saddam Hussein's attack on Iran. Hussein had equipped his air force with new aircraft, such as the MiG-23 and believed that Iran was in a weakened and vulnerable state following the revolution and subsequent purges. The Iranian forces surprised him and fought back effectively. Iraq failed to destroy the Iranian air force bases for several reasons, among them that Iraqi aircraft lacked the range to reach them. Another reason was that Iranian air bases had been built for USAF deployment in case of war with the Soviet Union. This meant that the bases were very large, well-dispersed and stocked with ample spare parts. This made the targets difficult for the small Iraqi air force to destroy. The Iraqi air force performed a very deep strike of more than 837 km (520 mi) inside Iran, but this small formation was intercepted by two Iranian F-4s and one or two MiGs were lost. F-4s struck back the following day in Operation Kaman 99 and destroyed many strategic Iraqi targets with bombs and missiles. After these attacks against strategic targets, the F-4s struck tactical battlefield targets, destroying many Iraqi armored vehicles. The Iraqi invasion was stopped within several weeks. Due to battlefield and accidental losses and the lack of spare parts, by the mid-1980s there were just 20–30 Iranian Phantoms still flying. The quantity of weapons and spare parts was not enough to sustain the fleet, but Iran is believed to have benefited from foreign assistance with clandestine shipments of up to 23 new airframes, plus spares from the U.S. and Israel (during the Iran-Contra Affair), as well as from locally designed and reverse-engineered components and weapons, and incorporation of ex-Soviet and Chinese technology. The aircraft of an Iranian F-4 pilot who deserted on