Word: persian
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When Carter threatened in January to use force if the Soviets headed toward the Persian Gulf, he seemed at last to have entered the world of action. But his subsequent hesitations over acquiring bases in the area made it seem that he was again trying to avoid that world. Carter is obsessed by his claim that not a single American boy has died because of any of his orders. This attitude obscures the fact that his uncertain trumpet has surely encouraged the Cuban mercenaries in Africa, the Soviet dislocations in Ethiopia and the invasion of Afghanistan. All produced death...
Clashes and provocations between two hotheaded Persian Gulf neighbors...
...battle erupted in the border area between Iraqi helicopter gunships and several Iranian Phantom jets and helicopters. There were also reports of increased military activity at Iraq's two main naval bases: Basra, on the Shatt al Arab, and Umm Qasr, at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf. Since more than 50% of the West's oil supplies originate in the gulf area, this confrontation was a new worry for the U.S. and its allies...
...current dispute is also territorial. Its focal point is a group of three small islands-Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb-that lie near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. These strategically placed islands have traditionally been claimed by the United Arab Emirates, but in 1971 they were seized by the Shah's forces, following Britain's military withdrawal from the gulf. Iraq has vowed to bring the islands back under Arab control, meaning Iraqi control, and on this point enjoys the support of the entire Arab world. Comments Kuwait's influential newspaper al Qabas...
...would be hard to predict the outcome of the struggle. Iraq's population is only a third the size of Iran's, and Baghdad would suffer from the fact that the three disputed islands lie 490 miles away from its border, at the opposite end of the Persian Gulf. On the other hand, Iraq's armed forces are believed to be the second most powerful in the region, after Israel's, while those of Iran have lost manpower, equipment and morale since the revolution...