Iraq had to deal with Shias standing against the state, Kurds in the north rising up and deal with hordes of Basijis including children storming the battlefield. Syria to our west aiding Iran and the list goes on.
I should add, the notion that Iraq was facing greater domestic challenges than Iran isn't correct.
First of all, the religious denomination of Shia Iraqis tells only half the story. The other half is that Shia Iraqis are Arab, not Iranian (at least after Saddam's regime deported tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens with Persian and Fayli / Lori ancestry). And pan-Arab nationalist mobilization led by the Baath Party was in full steam. So going by nominal markers of identity, we're even here. No intrinsic advantage for Iran. Moreover, Tehran never played a Shia vs Sunni card, its discourse since 1979 has constantly been pan-Islamic. Iran presented the conflict as a battle between an anti-imperial Islamic revolution and a tyrant backed by both imperialist superpowers of the time (which is simply factual). While Saddam was trying to portray it as a continuation and repeat of some past wars between Arab and Iranian armies, hence his repeated references to Qadisiyah. None of the sides was pushing a sectarianist narrative.
Secondly, one can't argue that the Islamic Republic in Iran had it easier, being the
early post-revolutionary polity that it was. Because states which only just experienced a popular revolution, are always gripped by internal turmoil and need some time before being able to assert control again. Iran was no exception, and that's precisely the reason why Saddam thought that Iran's domestic situation presented him with an opportunity to score a rapid victory by attempting an actual invasion.
Not only had the Iranian army gone through a purge, with shah-era generals executed and Air Force officers attempting coups such as the Nojeh plot in July 1980 (see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nojeh_coup_plot /), Iran was also facing armed separatist uprisings. And not just in its Kurdish-speaking areas (well into the mid-1980's), but also in Torkaman Sahra to the northeast, where Fadayane Khalq communist guerillas were assisting Turkmen-speaking separatists, in some northern regions adjacent to the Caspian Sea (again with communist involvement) and in Sistan-Balochestan province to the southeast, while in the northwestern provincial capital of Tabriz, home to Azari-speakers, the supporters of grand-ayatollah Shariatmadari led a revolt against the young revolutionary government.
This is without mentioning the civil-war like episode of 1981-1982, after president Bani Sadr was removed by Majles (Parliament) and the terrorist MKO cult took up arms against the Islamic Republic (the same MKO terrorists who then fled to Iraq and betrayed their motherland by siding with Saddam during the war). This led among other things to scores of bombings and assassinations of leading figures of the Islamic Revolution such as ayatollah Beheshti, who played a central role in shaping the institutions of the IR, dozens of other members of the Islamic Republic Party, ayatollah Motahari, one of the main theorists and thinkers of the Revolution, ayatollah Qoddusi in Shiraz, another key actor of the Revolution, Iran's second President Mohammad-Ali Rajai, etc. There was even an assassination attempt on the current Supreme Leader, grand-ayatollah Khamenei, who lost a hand in the attack. In all, the MKO martyred some 11000 Iranians over the years.
So if Iraq had to cope with Kurdish rebels and Islamic opposition, Iran had even more on her plate. In addition to standard post-revolutionary chaos and institutional instability, as well as a government that was not as heavy handed as Saddam's in suppressing dissent.
.. You said Iraq is forever a Shia Stronghold? there is no such thing as shia stronghold Iraq is a failed state and bound to politically change for the better by either foreign interference or just locally besides.. Besides is that not blatant sectrian post. Iraq is the seat of Abbasid throne someone can be passing thru but thats about it is off-limits.. Including Iran itself is off-limits for auction meaning they will have to re-enter the body either willing or by force eventually.. Not out of hate but out of love we are one and the same destined together
True, but one thing is for sure. Had it been so easy they would have invaded a long time ago. It was considered at one point by the Obama administration. But turned down.
