Maple - Iraq became a republic in 1958. We supplied Iraq with Hawker Hunters which were a mainstay of their defences until the 1970's. In 1978 Iraq started to purchase Mirage F.1's and continued into the 1980's under Saddam's regime.
There is no doubt that had we had the chance to supply Iraq with equipment in the 1970's we would have. France was more than happy to take oil in exchange for arms in a very similar way to we did with the Saudi Tornado's.