Word: escort
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...tankers, allowing Iran to increase its shipments out of the gulf and thereby accumulate much-needed cash. "The Iranians would like things to stay the way they are for as long as possible," says a Western diplomat. The mines, he adds, are passive and untraceable, frustrating the U.S. escort mission while driving a wedge between Washington and the gulf Arabs by reminding them that before the U.S. intervened, the waters were relatively safe. Iranian officials are aware that strong anti- Tehran sentiment in the U.S. (see box) would support an American strike if Iran gave the Navy an excuse...
...plane veered away at the last moment and was not harmed, but the episode illustrated the high state of American readiness to respond to any attacks in the area. In the waters below, American warships led three more reflagged tankers to Kuwait, bringing the total to five since the escort operation began last month. Meanwhile, Iraq broke a 25-day pause in its air strikes against Iran, which have taken a heavy toll in the seven-year Iran-Iraq war. The Iraqis staged more than 100 air raids against Iranian oil fields and a major refinery in the northwestern city...
...Several Arab ports in the gulf, including Bahrain and Dubai, permit U.S. Navy ships to make rest-and-relaxation stops; sailors, however, must wear civilian clothes on land and obey curfews. Despite official denials, Kuwait has offered to provide free fuel and maintenance for the U.S. warships that escort its reflagged vessels...
...Washington about sending minesweepers to the gulf, she politely said no. Thatcher reportedly was furious when U.S. Ambassador Charles Price formally repeated the same request, forcing her to reject the U.S. again, this time in public. Thatcher has added reason to look askance at the highly publicized American escort operation: London has quietly escorted British tankers through gulf waters for the past six years...
...other nations must again find a way to deal with that figure. For all the problems that Reagan's Kuwaiti escort service has encountered, the President seems determined to continue with the operation indefinitely. Says a senior Administration official: "He's committed to demonstrating support to our friends in the region." Still, the White House began muting its military role in the gulf last week. Senior officials insisted that the reflagging was first and foremost a display of solidarity toward the moderate Arabs, not a show of muscle...