Chieftain was to see all of its operational experience. It was first used extensively by Iran, during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88, including the largest tank battle of the war, with mixed results as the Chieftain Mk 3/5 suffered from chronic engine problems and low power-to-weight ratio, making it unreliable and slow when manoeuvering over harsh terrain, which in turn made it prone to breakdowns in the midst of battle or a sluggish target and thus vulnerable to enemy tank fire. After the tank battle at Susangerd, captured Chieftains of the Iranian 92nd Armoured Division were taken back to Baghdad for trials. According to Aladdin Makki, the Iraqi Army Corps chief of staff, in a post-war interview, Iraqi sabot rounds "Went through the front Armour of the Chieftain and came out the backside". This as well as the Chieftain's poor off-road capability influenced the Iraqis to reject British arms sale propositions, who were at the time courting Iraq for arms sales that included Chieftain MBT's. According to Makki, when the British telephoned the Iraqi director of Armor, Salah Askar, he responded with "We don't want your stupid tanks!" Ra'ad Al-Hamdani, an Iraqi general in the Iraqi Republican Guard, also expressed negative opinion on the Chieftain's performance in combat, stating "The 16th Iranian Armored Division, which was equipped with Chieftain tanks, lost a battle against the 10th Iraqi Armored Brigade with T-72 tanks. It is hard for an armored brigade to destroy a division in 12 hours but it happened; it was a disaster for the Iranians". Out of the 894 Chieftain tanks that had started the war only 200 were left by the war's end. The Chieftain remains in service in Iran, the Mobarez tank being a locally upgraded version. Kuwait and the Battle of the Bridges Kuwait had 143 Chieftains on the eve of the 1990 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait. Thirty-seven Chieftains of the Kuwaiti 35th Armored Brigade fought at the Battle of the Bridges against elements of the Iraqi Hammurabi and Medina divisions before withdrawing over the Saudi border. None of the brigade's tanks were lost in the battle, and the 35th Armored Brigade (known as Al-Fatah) became part of Joint Command Forces East during the 1991 Gulf War and was able to return into Kuwait undefeated. Besides those of the 35th Armored Brigade, the rest of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces' Chieftains (136 tanks) were either destroyed or