French support for Iraq during the Iran – Iraq war French support for Iraq during the Iran – Iraq war was an important element to strengthen Iraq for the Iran - Iraq war . Starting in roughly 1975 , leading up to the Iran - Iraq War , as well as the war itself , the greatest amount of military equipment came to Iraq from the Soviet Union , but France was probably second , and generally provided higher - technology equipment than the Soviets . Motives for policy towards Iraq . France was a long standing commercial partner of Iraq , having taken part in the Turkish Petroleum Company as early as 1924 . In the 1970s , Iraq supplied 24 percent of France ' s oil , and France was still struggling to sell goods , including weapons , to offset its commercial imbalance with such solvent countries . France traditionally had a balanced policy in the Middle East , and wanted to continue those both for general reasons of state , as well as ensuring petroleum supply . More generally , the French have been present in the Middle - East for centuries until the 20th century , as witnessed by the Sykes Picot and San Remo agreements . From the Iraqi standpoint , it was important to have Western sources of military supply , to avoid becoming too dependent on the Soviet Union . In issues including the Syrian role in Lebanon , the Arab - Israeli conflict , and having a nonaligned movement separate from the Western and Soviet camps , French and Iraqi policy differed . Baathist ideology was fundamentally anticommunist . Iraq and the Soviet Union did not always have common political goals . Iraq and France , however , also did not always have common interests , but France was quite liberal in not tying arms sales to Iraqi actions , or other instability in the region . For example , France continued to openly trade with Iraq even when Iranian - inspired terrorists took French hostages in Lebanon . Export controls . Many countries provide a level of policy control , because private exporters need government approval . In some countries , such as France , the government both controls a large segment of the military industry , and also decides on the propriety of export . Arms exporting is part of the overall policy , originated under Charles de Gaulle , of France having an independent defense policy . French military manufacturing is an economically important sector , providing jobs and foreign exchange . Since France has a significant commercial as well as military space program , the second largest in the NATO , it has an unusual competence in missile technology . French export controls derive from two administrative decrees from the time of the Second World War , in which the government has exclusive control of importing and exporting military goods . At the time of the Iran - Iraq War , the Missile Technology Control Regime was not created yet ( 1987 ) . The key export control decision making is in a Cabinet - level committee made up of representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs , Defense , Industry , Finance , and Foreign Trade . Actual administration of licensing and enforcement is under the Customs and Excise Department of the Ministry of Finance . The Defense Ministry is the key controlling organization — specifically the Director of International Relations at the Délégation Générale des Armements ( DGA ) . The DGA has a tradition of being a champion of French exports , for economic and foreign policy reasons . Military training and advice . Iraq may have had some French and Jordanian military advisors in the defense to the Iranian attack , Operation Jerusalem . The advisors were most effective with the regular troops rather than volunteers . Iraqi Mirage F - 1 ground attack pilots were trained by France . According to the U . S . , " tactical changes accompanied the upgrading of equipment . On bombing missions the Iraqis started to use low - altitude attacks . Precision - guided munitions such as laser - guided bombs were used with increased accuracy . " Air warfare . France had sold arms to Iraq during the 1966 to 1968 regime of Abd ar Rahman Arif , but increased its sales between 1974 and 1980 . Purchases were generally high technology , including aircraft and missiles . Iraqi air warfare doctrine was closer to French than Soviet . The Iraqis considered ground attack their most important air warfare mission , and put their best pilots into their Mirages , as opposed to their Soviet air superiority aircraft such as the MiG - 25 and MiG - 29 . Aircraft . France sold first - line Mirage F - 1 fighter - bomber s to Iraq , as well as providing Super Etendard attack aircraft while the Mirage orders were being completed . Mirage F - 1 . " Between 1977 and 1987 , Paris contracted to sell a total of 133 Mirage F - 1 fighters to Iraq . " Sources differ as to when Iraq received the first F - 1s ; the Library of Congress said 1978 while the New York Times reported 1981 . According to the Library of Congress , France provided , in 1978 , eighteen Mirage F - 1 interceptors and thirty helicopters , and even agreed to an Iraqi share in the production of the Mirage 2000 in a US $ 2 billion arms deal . The Times said the first of the batch of Mirages were seen in Cyprus , where they were met by pilots arriving in a transport with Jordanian markings . In 1983 , another twenty - nine Mirage F - 1s were exported to Baghdad . The final batch of twenty - nine aircraft was ordered in September 1985 , with a pricetag of over US $ 500 million , part of which was paid in crude oil . Super Etendard . France " loaned " Iraq five Super Etendard attack aircraft , equipped with Exocet AM39 air - launched anti - ship missiles , from its own naval inventory . These aircraft were used extensively in the Tanker War before being replaced by 29 F - 1s ( 24 F - 1s following other sources ) . The French foreign minister made light of the Super Etendard shipment , with a comment of " Five planes , more or less . What does that change ? " It certainly changed something in the eye of the Iranians , who apparently were responsible for the Drakkar building terrorist attack , which made 58 deaths . Support for Iraq is consistent with French policy and a resumption of Iraqi exports may enable Iraq to repay its debt to France . It is worth noting that Argentina , during the Falklands War , used Super Etendards to deliver its five air - launched Exocet missiles , sinking two British ships . Helicopter . France sold Alouette , Gazelle , Puma , and Super Frelon helicopters to Iraq . Super Frelon helicopters were the SA 321H version , with a search radar and two Exocet antiship missiles . Alouette and Puma , respectively were light and medium utility helicopters . Gazelles were primarily used in an antitank role , firing the French HOT antitank missile . Both sides , in the Iran - Iraq War , used helicopters for close air support , reserving their fixed - wing attack aircraft for more distant air strikes . While the helicopters had little air cover in the desert , they learned to use cover near cities and in mountainous terrain . Munitions . French weapons sold to Iraq , in general , tended to be higher technology and more complex than the Soviet weapons bought by Iraq . The training in their use was considerably different , as the French weapons usually required more decision making by the pilots , while the use of Soviet air - to - air weapons tended to be at the orders of a ground controller . Exocet anti - shipping missile . Iraq also bought more than 400 Exocet AM39 anti - shipping missile s . This is the weapon that struck the , and for which the U . S . did not retaliate against Iraq . AS30 air - to - ground missile . France sold Iraq at least 200 AS - 30 laser - guided missiles between 1983 and 1986 . HOT antitank missile . The Euromissile HOT can be helicopter - or vehicle - launched . Comparable to the U . S . TOW , it is wire - guided and optically tracked . Armat . Iraq bought the French ARMAT anti - radiation missile , a variant of the Martel anti - shipping missile . The ARMAT has a different niche than other ARMs such as the British ALARM missile and U . S . HARM . It has an especially large warhead , intended principally to destroy early warning and ground control radars , as opposed to being a defensive ARM intended to suppress air defenses deployed against aircraft penetrating them to strike other targets . Air defense . In 1981 , Iraq bought 30 French Crotale surface - to - air missile fire units from France and updated to up 60 Roland fire units by the end of the war . Nevertheless , Iraq seemed unable to use these French missiles , or its capable Soviet SA - 6 missiles , on more than an individual basis . Land warfare . Reproduced in the U . S . " Congressional Record " , a CBS News interview with arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian gave details of his dealings with Iraq before , during , and after the Iran - Iraq War . Kroft . Sarkis says the equipment he sold to Iraq has been customized to withstand the heat and sand and dust of the Middle East . In particularly , he sold French 155 mm self - propelled howitzers to Iraq . He said its range was greater than the U . S . equivalent , and perhaps more reliable because it was simpler , having no electronics or air conditioning to break down . France sold Iraq 100 French AMX - 30 lightly armored main battle tanks , and a number of Panhard military vehicles . Weapons of Mass Destruction . Nuclear . CERBAG . An agreement to build a nuclear facility was signed with France on 17 November 1975 . France was to supply two Osirak reactors , each fueled with highly enriched uranium . The project was conducted by a French consortium called CERBAG , with the member companies Technicatome , Société Générale pour les Techniques Nouvelles , Comsip Enterprise , Constructions Navales et Industrielles de la Méditerranée , and Bouygues Offshores . When France became concerned about Iraqi diversion of bomb - grade material , the French tried to convince the Iraqis to accept a much less enriched form of uranium . Iraq refused , so the French shipped the first reactor core in June 1980 . The CIA judged that France ( and Italy ) were unlikely to default on contracts , as they wanted to keep the good will of a major oil supplier . Iraq ' s leverage , however , was assessed as having less oil capability as a result of the Iran - Iraq War . Maraging steel . Maraging steel is an exceptionally high - strength material that , in " Grade 350 " , is used in uranium enrichment centrifuges . Iraq obtained between 100 and 106 tons of this normally export - controlled substance , through a complex series of transactions , middlemen , and front companies . The transaction started with a French businessman . In 1988 , Adel Ali Ridha , an official of the Iraqi gas centrifuge , met a French dealer of the company 3F at the Saddam Establishment , a military manufacturing facility . It was making gas centrifuge components with assistance H + H Metalforming , a German company half - owned by Iraq . The 3F representative probably was unaware of Adel ' s employer , and told him that his company made the needed grade of maraging steel . Approximately a month later , the salesman returned to Baghdad , told Adel there were problems in getting a French export license , but volunteered to help find a supplier . On his next visit , the Frenchman brought maraging steel samples , but he would not disclose the supplier . Iraq with the assistance of H + H Metalform analyzed the samples and established the specifications needed for Iraq ' s centrifuges . After providing the results to the Frenchman , he returned with new samples , which met the Iraqi standards . The material passed Iraqi tests , and the French representative brought in a Pakistani middleman , in October 1988 with Muzhar Malik , who was based in Britain . Malik contracted with Eurocom Incorporated of Saudi Arabia , which he obtained from an Austrian firm Boehler Edelstahl . Maraging steel was not export - controlled by Austria . The steel was shipped to Dubai and then to Iraq . Payment came from a Jersey Islands bank and from BCCI in the US . Chemical . Citing a " left - of - center " French magazine , " Le Nouvel Observateur " , as the primary source , but also quoting French officials , the New York Times reported France had been sending chemical precursors of chemical weapons to Iraq , since 1986 . The report cited a company called Protec S . A . was the key exporter for a group of French companies . President François Mitterrand was reported to have said he " knew of French companies that were breaking the United Nations embargo against Iraq . Mr . Mitterrand vowed to prosecute violators vigorously . " An unnamed French official indicated that U . S . satellite photography was critical in determining the ultimate destination of the materials , but the photographs made available suggested that " much of the material " may have gone to a chemical weapons factory in Samarra . The chemicals , listed in Schedule 3 of the Chemical Weapons Convention , are considered to have legitimate dual - use applications , but are also known precursors of nerve agents . It also mentioned Protec was allied to a German company , Karl Kolb , whose CEO was being held in jail by German authorities , during an investigation of illegal shipments . They worked with a third German company to ship manufacturing equipment to Iraq .