North Korean support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq War

North Korea supported Iran during the Iran–Iraq War for oil and foreign exchange by selling both domestically produced arms to Iran and serving as an intermediary for deniable sales by the Soviet Union, Soviet satellites, and China. Sales began with a delivery of Soviet artillery ammunition in October 1980 after the Iran–Iraq War had begun in September.

This soon followed by a billion-dollar sale of Chinese equipment from North Korean stocks along with locally-built T-54/T-55 Soviet-designed tanks. Payment was made in the form of cash and crude oil. Delivery of this order spread from 1981 to 1983. By 1982, Iran's major military supplier was North Korea, with sales in that year of $800 million. It provided, to Iran, both indigenously produced Soviet-standard equipment, as well as acting as an intermediary for both China and the Soviet Union. Some came from North Korean military stocks and were replaced by the originating country, while others were merely transshipped, still in the original factory crate. Iran rejected much of the equipment made in North Korea because of its poor quality.

North Korea sold arms primarily as a source of foreign exchange. North Korea demanded the currency of the United States, as payment. Sales ended only after North Korea's nuclear test, in October 2006, caused the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 embargo.