Iraq and Iran Exchange Dead POWs at Border

Iraq and Iran on Sunday exchanged the remains of more than 1,700 soldiers who died in the two countries’ prisons after being captured in their 1980-88 war.

The handover, which took place at the Iraqi border post of Munthiriya, 110 miles east of Baghdad, involved the remains of 1,166 Iraqis and 570 Iranians.

The exchange was part of efforts by the neighbors, branded by the U.S. as belonging to an “axis of evil,” to normalize relations.

Fahmi Qaisi, head of the Iraqi war prisoners and missing in action committee, told reporters that among the remains were those of 14 Iraqis captured by Iran during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when a U.S.-led coalition drove Baghdad’s forces out of Kuwait.

Iraqi officials would meet the Iranian side after the handover ceremony to agree on repatriation of remaining corpses, Qaisi said. He said new talks would be held on the handover of prisoners.

An estimated total of 1 million Iranians and Iraqis were killed in their nations’ war.