Iran honors 150 soldiers who died during 1980s war with Iraq

June 27 (UPI) -- Thousands gathered in the streets of Tehran Thursday to honor dozens of unidentified Iranian soldiers who died during the decade-long war with Iraq during the 1980s.

The remains of 150 unknown troops were included in a funeral procession through the Iranian capital as part of a yearly tradition. The soldiers' remains were found in Iraq and returned by the government to Iran.

Most of the remains belonged to soldiers whose identities have not been determined. Only about 30 were identified, state-run media reported.

Thousands of mourners wore black robes, read passages from the Quran and laid flowers on the troops' caskets.

The Iran-Iraq war lasted from 1980 to 1988, and was triggered by the decision of then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to invade Iran. The war came less than two years after Iran's Islamic Revolution.

An estimated 160,000 people died in the fighting and another 60,000 who disappeared were never found. There's an ongoing effort to find the soldiers who went missing.