Operation Prime Chance

Operation Prime Chance

Iraqi invasion

  • Kaman 99
  • 1st Khorramshahr
  • Scorch Sword
  • Abadan
  • Morvarid

Stalemate (1981)

  • Dezful
  • H3

Iranian offensive (1982)

  • Samen-ol-A'emeh
  • Jerusalem Way
  • Undeniable Victory
  • 2nd Khorramshahr
  • Jerusalem
  • Ramadan

Strategic stalemate (1983-1984)

  • Before the Dawn
  • Dawn 1
  • Dawn 2
  • Dawn 3
  • Dawn 4
  • Dawn 5
  • Kheibar
  • Dawn 6
  • Marshes
  • Badr

Duel offensives (1985-1986)

  • Al-Anfal Campaign (Halabja)
  • Dawn 8 (1st al-Faw)
  • Mehran
  • Karbala 4
  • Karbala-5
  • Karbala-6
  • Karbala Ten
  • Nasr 4

Final stages

  • Beit-ol-Moqaddas 2
  • Zafar 7
  • Tawakalna ala Allah (2nd al-Faw)
  • Forty Stars
  • Mersad

Tanker War

  • Earnest Will
  • Prime Chance
  • Eager Glacier
  • Nimble Archer
  • Praying Mantis

International incidents

  • Operation Opera
  • USS Stark incident
  • Air Flight 655 Incident


Operation Prime Chance (August 1987 – June 1989) was a United States Special Operations Command operation intended to protect U.S.-flagged oil tankers from Iranian attack during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation took place roughly at the same time as Operation Earnest Will (July 1987 – December 1988), the largely Navy effort to escort the tankers through the Persian Gulf. The operation was begun after the mining of the U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker Bridgeton.

Read more about Operation Prime Chance:  Overview, Planning, Execution, Units

Famous quotes containing the words operation, prime and/or chance:

    It is critical vision alone which can mitigate the unimpeded operation of the automatic.
    Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)

    And this must be the prime of life . . . I blink,
    As if at pain; for it is pain, to think
    This pantomime
    Of compensating act and counter-act,
    Defeat and counterfeit, makes up, in fact,
    My ablest time.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    Those who wander in the world avowedly and purposely in pursuit of happiness, who view every scene of present joy with an eye to what may succeed, certainly are more liable to disappointment, misfortune and unhappiness, than those who give up their fate to chance and take the goods and evils of fortune as they come, without making happiness their study, or misery their foresight.
    Frances Burney (1752–1840)