Mehran County spreads across the central Zagros foothills at 33° 7' 15" north latitude and 46° 9' 45" east longitude.

The county borders the Khush River to the north, the Qalavizаn Hills and Changooleh River to the south, the Kabir Kooh Mountain range to the east, and the Iran-Iraq border strip to the west and southwest. Mehran’ s geographical boundary with Iraq begins at the Kulak and Kani-Sakht elevations in the north, continues through the Reza-Abad, Farrokh-Abad, and Bahram-Abad areas, and extends to the Qalavizаn Heights and on to Changooleh.⁠[1]

Mehran County is home to the large Malekshahi and Shoohan tribal confederations, with Kurdish, Luri, and Arabic dialects spoken throughout. Its residents, like many Iranians living along the Zagros range, engage in livestock raising and farming. Before the Iran-Iraq War, Mehran’ s population had grown to around 9,000 by 1980, influenced by the expanding Iran-Iraq relations that followed the 1975 Algiers Agreement. When the war began, residential, service, and economic infrastructure were destroyed, and the people fled to safer areas, including Ilam. Mehran’ s proximity to the Iraqi border and its position as a crossing point have meant that the city has been directly affected by Iraq’ s political, social, and military developments.⁠[2]

After the Islamic Revolution, Iraq’ s border provocations against Iran took on a different form. The Iraqi government carried out its first overt military aggression — one month after the victory of the Revolution— in the Sarshiv area of Kurdistan, and its second aggression the day after the Islamic Republic was formally established, in the Mehran. Iraqi intelligence forces organized anti-revolutionary elements and, using Mehran County’ s transit routes, including the Zarbatiyeh– Bahram-Abad– Mehran axis, infiltrated deep into Iranian territory.⁠[3]

During the Iran-Iraq War, Mehran experienced four cycles of occupation and liberation. The last came on July 23, 1988, after Iran had accepted Resolution 598, when the 11th Amir al-Momenin (as) Division and local tribal fighters — with effective Army Aviation support — pushed the enemy back and Mehran was permanently liberated.⁠[4]

Many operations were conducted in the Mehran area during the war due to its strategic position. Following the series of operations named Valfajr, it was decided that action should also be taken to fully liberate the general Mehran region. Accordingly, Operation Valfajr 3 was launched on three axes. It was planned, executed and commanded jointly by 26 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) battalions and seven Army ones. On the Qalavizаn Heights, forces were unable to link up with the central axis or build an embankment from the Qalavizаn ridge toward Firooz-Abad and Farrokh-Abad, and the operating units did not succeed. But in the early hours of August 9, 1983, Muhammad Ibrahim Hemmat — commander of the 27th Hazrat Rasul (pbuh) Division — moved in with one battalion of his elite special forces, broke through the Iraqi resistance, and fully cleared the heights, thereby connecting the central and southern fronts.⁠[5]

On the eve of the Operation Kheibar, limited and diversionary supporting attacks were needed to deceive the enemy. Given the situation on the fronts, the Changooleh area south of Mehran was selected for this purpose. Therefore, the IRGC planned and executed Operation Valfajr 5 with 15 battalions across four axes on February 16, 1984. Over several days of fighting, most of the planned objectives were achieved, and important areas, including Bandar-e Pir-Ali and the Changooleh Heights, were liberated.⁠[6]

During the preparation phase for the remarkable Operation Valfajr 8, the fronts needed to be kept active, and the enemy could not be left undisturbed. An operation was therefore planned and executed by the IRGC in the Changooleh area south of Mehran. The operation was launched in the early hours of August 15, 1985, under the name Ashura 2. After defeating the enemy troops and destroying their light and heavy weapons, Iranians managed to take control of the Doqoloo Heights and Peak 145.⁠[7]

Among the defensive measures the Iraqi army took in the Mehran operational area was the construction of obstacles and fortifications on the Qalavizаn Hills to a depth of 370 meters, and on some of the northern slopes to a depth of 606 meters. These included mixed mine plantings and configurations, barbed wire, anti-personnel and anti-tank ditches, and ambush positions.⁠[8]

After the UN resolution, Saddam sought to seize additional concessions by launching another assault on Iran’ s borders — from Qasr-e Shirin to Khorramshahr — in the same manner as at the start of the war. During this period, members of the People’ s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, backed by the Iraqi army, occupied Mehran twice, once before and once after the resolution.⁠[9]

The operation to liberate Mehran was carried out in four phases. In the fourth phase, 60 forces from the 11th Amir al-Momenin (as) Division were martyred or wounded, and on August 3, 1988, Iraqi troops retreated to the international border.⁠[10]

From 1992 onward, following the Iraqi army’ s engagement in the Kuwait war, known as the Second Persian Gulf War, the repair and reconstruction of Mehran’ s residential units began with the participation of displaced residents and was completed in 1994. A full rebuild of the city and the implementation of its master plan, however, depended on certain requirements being met.⁠[11]