Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein attempted to take advantage of the disorder of the revolution, the weakness of the Iranian military and the revolution's antagonism with Western governments. On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran–Iraq War. The attack took revolutionary Iran by surprise. Although Hussein's forces made early advances, Iranian forces pushed the Iraqi army back into Iraq by 1982. Khomeini sought to export the revolution westward into Iraq, especially on the majority Shi'a Arabs living in Iraq. The war continued until 1988, when Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the UN.