Word: exocets
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...Kharg. Saddam Hussein probably could not destroy the facility, since it is well protected, but he could bomb the tankers at the loading docks and disrupt Iran's oil exports. In October Iraq received from France five sophisticated Super Etendard fighter-bombers, which can be equipped with lethal Exocet missiles...
Western diplomats believe Iraq can carry out its threat. In October, the country received from France five highly sophisticated Super Etendard fighter-bombers, which can be equipped with lethal Exocet missiles. The Iraqis increased the pressure earlier this month with air strikes that, they claim, sank nine "enemy naval targets" in the gulf. In response, Iran has hardened its position. Only an end to the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Iranian officials insist, will bring a settlement. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping if Iraq launches attacks on its oil facilities...
Iraq, which took responsibility for the attack, also declared that six other "enemy" craft were hit. Iran charged that the Antigoni was destroyed by a French-manufactured Exocet missile, the same weapon used by Argentina with devastating effect against British ships during the 1982 Falklands war. That additional charge remains unproved, but there can be no doubt that the sinking of the Antigoni represented a dangerous escalation in the three-year war between Iran and Iraq for control of the northern tip of the gulf...
Iraq began putting new pressure on Iran in October, when the Baghdad government took delivery from France of five Exocet-equipped Super Etendard fighter-bombers. The Iraqis then said they had mined approaches to Bandar-Khomeini. Iraq also threatened to bomb a nearby petrochemical plant, as well as an Iranian oil-exporting facility in the gulf. In an attempt to cut off Iran's vital resources, the Iraqis have fired on numerous other foreign freighters in recent weeks...
...Khomeini, deep within the war zone, have been ordered to travel only in convoys. Lifeboats are kept half lowered, and special teams of Iranian soldiers armed with antiaircraft weapons stand guard on deck. But those safeguards are of little help against guided-missile attacks. In addition to the sophisticated Exocet, Iraq has an arsenal of French-made AS. 11 and AS. 12 missiles that are more than a match for freighter hulls...