"The West was arming Iraq with high tech weapons, and expected a decisive Iranian defeat in that war..."

Since when is Russia (aka Soviet Union) considered part of the West?

About 95% of Iraq's weapons came from the cash-starved Soviet Union.

Iraq broke-off diplomatic ties with the U.S. after we supported Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. We did not trade with Iraq and we had no diplomatic relations unti Reagan sent Don Rumsfeld to open the communication channels around 1987.