Word: oman
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...waters outside the Persian Gulf resembled a floating parking lot. Scores of empty supertankers, flying the flags of Panama, Japan, Pakistan and many other countries, lay at anchor last week in the Gulf of Oman, as did half a dozen U.S. warships. A menacing cluster of mines had brought the world's busiest oil traffic to a sudden and embarrassing halt. One after another, the explosives bobbed into sight. By week's end at least five had been spotted, and every tiny fishing boat that sailed by was carefully watched in case it tried to plant more of the dangerous...
...mines, discovered after one blasted a hole in the U.S.-owned tanker Texaco Caribbean, added a lethal new twist to Washington's showdown with Iran. The explosives were the first to be found in the Gulf of Oman, a vital staging area for ships plying the Persian Gulf. Although the U.S.-escorted Bridgeton struck what appeared to be an Iranian mine last month, that mishap occurred hundreds of miles inside the Persian Gulf. One result of the new danger was a change of heart by Britain and France, which decided to rush minesweepers to the region after...
...skirmish in the skies marked the first encounter between U.S. and Iranian forces since Khomeini took power in 1979. The incident occurred while a U.S. P-3 Orion reconnaissance plane and two F-14 Tomcat fighters were flying over the Persian Gulf toward Oman. Suddenly two aging F-4 Phantom jets rose up from Iran's Bandar Abbas air base, near the Strait of Hormuz, and streaked toward the American planes. The Iranians kept coming even after two more Tomcats swept down from a higher altitude and tried to warn them off by radio. One of the Tomcat pilots ordered...
...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...
...discovery of the floating bombs in an area once considered safe immediately halted tanker traffic. Oman and the United Arab Emirates quickly dispatched boats and helicopters to hunt for the mines. Gunners tried to explode the devices by blasting them with rifle and cannon fire. Despite the efforts, a small commercial supply ship blew up late last week, apparently after hitting a mine off the coast of Oman...