Word: gulf
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...days later the Texaco Caribbean was slowly steaming south through the Gulf of Oman. Flying the Panamanian flag, the tanker had just loaded up with Iranian oil at Larak Island terminal in the Persian Gulf. Suddenly, eight miles from the United Arab Emirates' port of Fujairah, an explosion rocked the ship, ripping a gash ten feet wide in its hull. As oil oozed into the sea and sailors hosed down the deck, the Texaco Caribbean limped farther offshore to avoid contaminating nearby beaches with oil. Western diplomats speculated that the device was intended for the U.S.-escorted tanker convoy, which...
...London announced it was sending four mine hunters to join the three-warship Armilla Patrol that has escorted British tankers in the region for the past six years. Defense Secretary George Younger, however, insisted that the vessels would be used only to protect British ships in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz...
...clear that they were acting on their own, the Reagan Administration was delighted. Weinberger again called for an international minesweeping force to patrol the region, but the allies continued to spurn that proposal. The U.S.S. Guadalcanal, carrying eight Sea Stallion minesweeping helicopters, is not scheduled to reach the Persian Gulf until later this month, and British and French sweepers are not due to arrive until mid-September...
...significant and welcome help from a lot of other countries." Weinberger has a point. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, for example, rushed search and rescue ships to the stricken U.S.S. Stark after an Iraqi fighter plane accidentally attacked the frigate last May, killing 37 men. 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...
Nonetheless, the growing tensions in the gulf continue to benefit an unlikely party: Iran. Last month the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq responded by curtailing air sorties against Iranian oil fields and halting strikes on tankers carrying Iranian oil. The U.S. naval presence has also discouraged Iraqi air attacks. All that has enabled Iran to boost its oil exports through the Persian Gulf from an estimated 1.5 million bbl. a day last month to an estimated 1.9 million bbl. today, greatly increasing its revenues...