While the Iran-Iraq War was fought mostly by the two countries, other nations had supported either side in some way. While the United States had backed Iraq during the war, in 1987 an Iraqi aircraft fired missiles at the USS Stark killing 37 sailors. The USS Stark survived until she was retired in 1999 and scrapped in 2006. President Ronald Reagan later blamed Iran for the incident despite that the fact that an Iranian helicopter aided the USS Stark in rescue operations.