Word: iranian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fighter-bombers are on the aircraft carrier Ranger, cruising in the Arabian Sea 1,200 miles from Fao. The jets would have to refuel in midair, since the gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, are skittish about letting them land on their territory for fear of Iranian reprisal. And because the Silkworms are truck-mounted and mobile, there is no guarantee that the U.S. jets would have anything to bomb once they got there...
...dawn attack on the reflagged tanker came almost exactly 24 hours after another missile, also thought to be an Iranian-launched Silkworm, slammed into the starboard side of the supertanker Sungari, a U.S.-owned, Liberian- registered vessel that was not under the protection of the U.S. fleet. No one , was hurt in the attack...
...intelligence first spotted the missiles last March along the Iranian banks of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow strip of water through which all shipping must pass on its way into and out of the gulf. Though Iranian officials have frequently threatened to close the strait, such a scenario is considered unlikely, since much of Iran's own oil exports must pass through the waterway...
...this month, Iranian speedboats and frigates have attacked six unarmed ships in the gulf, including two Japanese tankers. That stirred Japan into offering modest help to finance the U.S. defensive operations in the international waterway, including some $10 million worth of advanced navigational gear. West Germany too offered indirect support, sending three warships into the Mediterranean to free other NATO vessels for gulf patrols. Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands already have warships and minesweepers on duty in the gulf -- as does the Soviet Union, which has a dozen ships there and in the Arabian...
Iraq has stepped up its air war on Iranian shipping, hitting 15 enemy tankers since Sept. 25. It even sent Mirage jets ranging far south to Iran's Larak Island oil terminal near the gulf's mouth, where they damaged the Liberian-flagged Seawise Giant, the world's largest tanker. Iran struck back, firing two long-range missiles at Baghdad...