Word: iranian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...some diplomats put it, there was no certain way to determine just which country or group is responsible for what appeared to be an elaborate act of terrorism and harassment. In the beginning, Egypt, which operates the Suez Canal, had two prime suspects, Iran and Libya. The Iranian government of the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini was known to be angry and frustrated over its inability to stop its enemy Iraq from attacking tankers using Iranian oil facilities in the Persian Gulf. The Iranians were also upset about Iraq's intention to export more of its own oil via planned pipelines...
...Soviet Union and some radical Middle Eastern states of using the problem as a way to force more U.S. naval power into the region. The Soviet news agency Novosti declared that Washington was "tempted by the idea of turning the Red Sea into an American lake." The Iranian and Libyan news agencies even charged that the U.S. planted the mines in the first place. But the Reagan Administration would have little reason to become involved in an overseas military activity during an election year or to do anything that might remind the U.S. public about its failures in Lebanon...
Iraqi military experts explain that they want the cluster bombs to defend themselves against the kind of human-wave assaults that Iran has tried in the past. They could also do considerable damage to the pipelines and loading equipment at Kharg Island and other Iranian oil terminals. The Chilean cluster bombs represent only a fraction of Iraq's huge arsenal, which consists mostly of weapons bought from the Soviet Union and France. But for Chile's budding arms industry the deal offers visibility, and perhaps field testing, in one of the bloodiest wars now under...
Khomeini's comments added fuel to speculation about conflict within the Iranian leadership over the country's costly war with Iraq, which took a more serious turn last week when Iraq claimed that it had attacked and destroyed several Iranian jets and warships in the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf. But Khomeini's remarks did nothing to resolve the mystery of the Red Sea mines. By last week at least 15 ships had experienced some sort of explosion as they plied the waters of the Red Sea on their way to or from the Suez Canal...
According to disaffected Iranian officials, the decision to mine the Red Sea is an aspect of the terrorism to which Iran is resorting in the face of military weakness and domestic troubles. The country confronts increasing difficulty in buying arms on the world market, partly because the U.S. has made an effort during the past two years to stop the flow of weapons not only from American suppliers but from U.S. allies as well. As a result, Iran today is manufacturing more and more of its own crude weaponry. There is little doubt it has the ability to make floating...