Iraq had 4 times the armor strength of Iran at the end of the Iran/Iraq war and a modern airforce that included Mig-29 and other planes that were at the time close to state of the art.
I remembered that till 1987, although Iran always seemed to lose more men, but since they have larger men resources, they still winning most battles and push into southern Iraq. And even with superior weaponry from foreign aids (a lot to thank the U.S, and the USSR), Iraqi force failed to take back the occupied cities and regions from Iran. (Back then I thought that it's a good example of conscript soldiers with superior weapons are no match for seasonal soldiers with brave heart.)
We all thought at the beginning that Iran was going to force a humiliated defeat to Iraq (in the early 80s), but things suddenly changed in 1988. Starting from the famous missiles attack that latter the chemical weapons. This theme will echo in the following First Gulf War. (They are major fears before the First Gulf War, and later the remarkable missiles interception rate of U.S Patriot to the Iraq Scud was a humiliation for Iraqis). And their physiological effect was the successful factors than traditional armor forces and failed air battles from both side. Neither side were able to maintain air superiority with their imported expensive fighters in desert environment. The tanks failed very often in the desert too, which gives U.S. a lot of warning and preparations for dealing with sands and operating armor vehicles in the desert. And Iran picked the worst target with the most powerful U.S. Navy to challenge, later even the USSR. It was a huge mistake. Iran simply could not withstand enemies from all sides and the fears of chemical attacks carried by missiles to their civilians cripple their fight wills.
(Which overthrown my believes that technologies alone can not win a war. But apparently if you can acquired light-year ahead weaponry, and denied your opponent, they sure can force a victory. If you act quickly enough before your enemy be able to counter them. Like the German tanks in the early WWII with previously unthinkable tactics, ethical one or not. In the long run though, I don't think so.)
So it's not the size of their armor strength or air strength determine the outcome, and their army strength. It's the fear ending the Iran-Iraq war. And it reversed in less than half a year. I think it doesn't prove Iraqi regular army are any better than Iranian regular army. (I think it proved the opposite that Iraq can't win a regular battle with Iran, but only through physiological effects from missiles and chemical weapons). And with years of embargo, It was a miracle that Iran still able to withstand the war. And at the end of the war, Iran lost most of their precious equipments when retreating from southern Iraq. Without the ability to replenish them, it's no surprised that at the end, the difference in equipments is huge.
But when the war is over, the embargo didn't end, hence Iran quickly decided to expand it's domestic military industries, and was able to re-armed itself since the 90s with home-made tanks, APCs, fighters, and even submarines. An the Iran never forget the missiles and made loads of them itself. And probably it's ability to make its own nukes very soon. So I think perhaps the Iranian standing army after the Iran-Iraq war was weaken and behind Iraq equipment-wise, but Iran military as an entity and a whole was still more powerful than Iraq at the time. (You lost your knife in a fight and your opponent get a shiny new knife, doesn't make you a weaker fighter. Especially when you have the ability to make weapons and armors yourself, and your opponent have to rely on others.)
I am not opposing that the Iraq standing army is a bit stronger than Iran standing army at the time of Desert Storm, but it's clearly that Iraq with it's mostly conscript soldiers and a lot of imported and unfit mismatch weaponry is far less powerful than most let to believe. And without their only secret weapon - chemical warhead missiles, they were just easy pickings. (Ranking wise it's still far less powerful than the top 10.)
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