Ottoman–Persian War (1776–1779)

The Ottoman–Persian War of 1776–1779 or Ottoman–Iranian War of 1776–1779 was fought between the Ottoman Empire and Zand Iran. The Iranians, ruled by Karim Khan Zand and led by his brother Sadeq Khan Zand, invaded southern Iraq and after besieging Basra for a year, took the city from the Ottomans in 1776. The Ottomans, unable to send troops, were dependent on the Mamluk governors to defend that region.

In an attempt to raise troops and provisions for this war, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I, made Suleiman al-Jalili mubayaaci (official of provisions), ordering him to send provisions to Baghdad, which he ignored, instead restricting merchants from selling their goods. As a result, the Iranians held Basra until Karim Khan's death in 1779 when the Ottomans, under Sulayman Agha, retook the city.

Background

There were multiple reasons for why Karim Khan declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Omar Pasha the Mamluk governor of the Ottoman province of Iraq had seized the remnants of Iranian pilgrims who had died during the plague that ravaged Iraq in 1773 and his exaction of payment from Iranian pilgrims to visit the holy Shia places of Najaf and Karbala.

Another reason was the city of Mashhad where the Imam Reza shrine was situated, was not under Zand control, thus the access to free shrines in Iraq was important to Karim Khan.

Omar Pasha also began to interfere more in the internal affairs of the Baban Emirate, which had recently shown closeness to Khosrow Khan, the Governor of Ardalan under the Zand Dynasty, and finally dismissed Mehmed Pasha the ruler of Baban at the beginning of 1774 and appointed Abdullah Pasha in his place. Mehmed Pasha took refuge in Ardalan.