Iran has released a final group of 59 Iraqi prisoners from the 1980-88 war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on 5 May, saying that no more prisoners were known to be held. In March, as Saddam Hussein sought regional support in the face of war, an agreement was reached in which 941 Iraqis and 349 Iranians were returned to their countries. The issue had been a sticking point of attempts to normalise relations for many years. Since 1988, the ICRC has repatriated about 97,000 prisoners of the Iran-Iraq war, while 70,000 people remain unaccounted for.