Editing Missing in action (section)

===Iran–Iraq War===
{{expand section|date=July 2011}}
The [[Iran–Iraq War]] of 1980–1988 left tens of thousands of Iranian and Iraqi combatants and prisoners of war still unaccounted for.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/><ref name="fox2008"/>  Some counts include civilians who disappeared during the conflict.<ref name="fox2008"/>  One estimate is that more than 52,000 Iraqis went missing in the war.<ref name="siasat">{{cite news | newspaper=[[The Siasat Daily]] | url=http://matrimonial.siasat.com/english/news/iraq-starts-looking-soldiers-missing-action-kuwait-iran | title=Iraq starts looking for soldiers missing in action in Kuwait, Iran | date=July 2, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120326135859/http://matrimonial.siasat.com/english/news/iraq-starts-looking-soldiers-missing-action-kuwait-iran | archive-date=March 26, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>  Officially, the government of Iran lists 8,000 as missing.<ref name="fox2008"/>

Following up on these cases is often difficult because no accurate or surviving documentation exists.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/>  The situation in Iraq is additionally difficult because unknown hundreds of thousands persons are missing due to Iraq's later conflicts, both internal and external, and in Iran due to its being a largely closed society.<ref name="icrc-iiw">{{cite news | url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm | title=Twenty years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, tens of thousands of combatants still unaccounted for | publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] | date=October 16, 2008 | access-date=July 4, 2011 | archive-date=November 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111103208/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>  In addition, relations between the countries remained quite poor for a long time; the last POWs from the war were not exchanged until 2003<ref>{{cite news | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 | work=The New York Times | first=Nazila | last=Fathi | title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal | date=March 14, 2003}}</ref> and relations did not begin to improve until after the regime change brought on by the 2003 onset of the [[Iraq War]].<ref name="fox2008">{{cite news | url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/red-cross-iran-and-iraq-agree-to-track-those-missing-in-1980s-conflict | title=Red Cross: Iran and Iraq Agree to Track Those Missing in 1980s Conflict | agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=Fox News | date=October 16, 2008}}</ref>  Some cases are brought forward when mass graves are discovered in Iraq, holding the bodies of Iranians once held prisoner.<ref name="fox2008"/>  Websites have been started to attempt to track the fates of members of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force]] shot down and captured over Iraq.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/country-by-country/The%20Iran%20-%20Iraq%20War%20Iranian%20POWS/iran__iraq_war_iranian_pows.htm |title=ejection-history.org.uk |publisher=ejection-history.org.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928033937/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/country-by-country/The%20Iran%20-%20Iraq%20War%20Iranian%20POWS/iran__iraq_war_iranian_pows.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) has been active in trying to resolve MIA issues from the war; in October 2008, twenty years after the end of the war, the ICRC forged a memorandum of understanding with the two countries to share information collected in pursuit of resolving cases.<ref name="fox2008"/>  Families are still desperate for knowledge about the fate of their loved ones.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/>

In Iran, efforts at answering families' questions and identifying remains are led by the [[POWs and Missing Commission]] of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Army]], the [[Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran]], and the [[Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs]].<ref>[https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2008/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm International Committee of the Red Cross]</ref>

In Iraq, efforts are led by the [[Ministry of Human Rights (Iraq)|Ministry of Human Rights]].<ref name="icrc-iiw"/><ref name="siasat"/>