Word: iranian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...well as to Iraq's Arab neighbors. It suggested that after 41 months of bloody but inconclusive fighting between Iraq and Iran, the Iraqis had decided to make good on a longstanding threat to close down Iran's biggest oil-exporting terminal. If that happens, the Iranian government of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini has threatened to retaliate by blockading the 40-to-60-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the non-Communist world's crude oil passes. Such a closure, in turn, could widen the war considerably. President Reagan declared only two weeks ago, "There...
Amid the conflicting claims and counterclaims, it was clear only that the loss of life has been tremendous. The Iraqis said they had killed 30,000 Iranians, the majority of them young men and boys, in the recent fighting, including 2,000 in one battle last week. Iran claimed to have killed 12,000 Iraqis. The shelling of civilian targets also continued: at least 100 Iranians were killed in several border towns. But last week's toll barely began to measure the human cost of the war. According to an Iranian defector who was formerly a senior official...
...Indian Ocean. Early last week the U.S. destroyer Lawrence, on duty near the entrance to the strait, fired warning shots when an unidentified vessel crossed its bow at a distance of about a mile. That same day the Lawrence fired into the air in front of a low-flying Iranian patrol plane and broadcast a warning to an Iranian frigate after the plane and the ship came within 2½ miles of the American destroyer. Under orders issued in late January, the U.S. asked all ships and planes in the area to stay at least five miles away from American...
...bought from France last fall to attack Kharg Island, Iran's principal oil terminal. Iran has repeatedly said it would retaliate by blockading the strait, thereby halting shipment of most of the oil produced by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. Last week Iranian officials warned again that if the U.S. and its supporters try to intervene in the war "their fate would be decisively worse than their fate in Lebanon." The U.S. has been urging restraint on Iraq to avoid any provocation that would escalate the conflict. But should the strait be closed...
With that in mind, the U.S. and Britain have drawn up contingency plans to protect the Persian Gulf in the event of interference with international shipping. Both countries are prepared to escort vessels entering and leaving the gulf, carry out minesweeping operations and if necessary use force to prevent Iranian sea or air efforts to intercept oil traffic. The U.S. Navy maintains four ships in the Persian Gulf, besides a 30-ship flotilla, led by the aircraft carrier Midway, in the Indian Ocean. Britain has a missile-equipped destroyer, a modern frigate and a tanker in the region...