Issue Date: August 14, 1987
Persian Gulf Crisis:
Hostilities Widen
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Mines Found in Gulf of Oman
U.K., France Send Minesweepers
U.S. Conducts Surprise Escort
U.S. F-14 Fires on Iranian Jet
Iraq Resumes Air Attacks
The scope of the international crisis over the Persian Gulf continued to widen Aug. 8-12,
following the previous week's deadly rioting in Mecca. A U.S.-owned supertanker hit a
mine in an area just outside the gulf, leading Britain and France to dispatch minesweepers
to the region and eliciting new threats from Iran. Meanwhile, Iraq resumed air attacks
against Iran, the U.S. conducted a surprise escort of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers, and it was
revealed that an American warplane had fired missiles at an Iranian jet but missed. [See
1987 402 Die in Mecca as Iranians Riot; Persian Gulf Tensions Rise, 1987 Persian Gulf
Crisis: U.S. Delays Convoy]
According to reports Aug. 7-10, the U.S. naval buildup in and near the gulf was growing
into one of the largest concentrations of American firepower and servicemen in a war
zone since the Vietnam era. By early September, the U.S. was expected to have up to 31
ships and smaller vessels and 25,000 men on station in the region.
Mines Found in Gulf of Oman
The Texaco Caribbean, an American-operated, Panamanian-registered supertanker filled
with Iranian oil, struck a mine Aug. 10 after it left the Persian Gulf and was steaming into
the Gulf of Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz. Another five mines were spotted
over the next several days in the same area, less than 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the
United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah.
It was the first time that mines had been found--or any ship had been damaged in an
attack--outside the Persian Gulf. The waters near Fujairah had previously been used as a
safe anchorage by vessels waiting to enter the gulf, and the latest incident alarmed
shipping industry officials. Within 24 hours of the mining, more than half the tankers and
bulk carriers anchored near Fujairah had left, and insurance rates rose as the Gulf of
Oman assumed war-zone status.
The holed Texaco Caribbean, meanwhile, having leaked an estimated 1 0,000 barrels of
oil and caused a large slick, moved further offshore and began transferring its cargo to
other tankers.
Although the damaged supertanker had been carrying a load of crude from the Iranian
terminal at Larak Island, Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims Aug. 13 said the U.S.
believed it was "almost certainly the Iranians" themselves who planted the mines near
Fujairah, "presumably in hopes of placing them in front of our most recent tanker-escort
group." The reflagged tankers had been anchored in the area before leaving for Kuwait
Aug. 8 under escort from U.S. Navy warships.
Pentagon officials said their assumptions were based on evidence that the mines in Gulf
of Oman were the same type as the one hit by the Bridgeton during the first U.S. escort
mission. Seven more mines were then found in the same area, near the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards naval base on Farsi Island. The spiked, spherical mines could be
either floated or moored beneath the surface after being dropped from a small boat. They
were an obsolete type made in Russia in 1908, improved in 1938 and later sold to North
Korea, which was believed to have recently sold them to Iran.
(Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger Aug. 9 for the first time had identified mines
recovered from the Persian Gulf as Iranian. Following the Bridgeton incident, U.S.
officials had forsworn retaliation because they said they could not prove Iranian
responsibility, although they strongly suspected it.)
Iran, for its part, blamed the U.S. or Iraq for planting the mines in the Gulf of Oman and
asked the U.A.E. for permission to conduct minesweeping operation in its territorial
waters.
U.K., France Send Minesweepers
Oman, the reclusive pro-Western sultanate that overlooked the Strait of Hormuz,
appealed for help in locating mines in the coastal waters it shared with the U.A.E. The
U.S. dispatched helicopters from its fleet to aid the search. But the biggest development
came Aug. 11, when Britain and France switched their previous policy and ordered their
own minesweepers to the Persian Gulf region.
Both London and Paris stressed that the ships--which would take several weeks to arrive
on the scene--would lend protection only to their own respective naval and merchant
vessels. Nevertheless, the Reagan administration welcomed the moves as part of its effort
to both improve minesweeping capabilities in the gulf and portray the U.S. buildup there
as being part of an allied endeavor. Most of the oil exported from the gulf went to
Western Europe and Japan rather than to the U.S.
(White House national security adviser Frank Carlucci had visited London Aug. 3 and
Paris Aug. 4, but failed to convince either government to reconsider their refusal to back
up the U.S. Navy's weak minesweeping capability in the gulf.)
British Defense Secretary George Younger, in announcing the dispatch of four Hunt class
minesweeper/hunter ships and a support vessel, said the discovery of mines in the Gulf of
Oman had forced the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to change its
mind. He emphasized that the minesweepers would not be available for operations
throughout the Persian Gulf, but were being sent only to protect Britain's three-warship
Armilla Patrol, which escorted U.K.-registered vessels as far north as Bahrain.
(Another factor in the decision, noted by some observers, was Britain's close defense ties
with Oman.)
The British opposition Labour Party condemned the government's decision, while former
Social Democratic Party leader David Owen applauded it.
French Defense Minister Andre Giraud, in announcing the dispatch of two minesweepers
to join the aircraft carrier group that was already steaming to reinforce the regular French
Indian Ocean fleet, said there had been no coordination of the move with Britain or the
U.S. "We do not foresee carrying out any combined operations," he said. He added that
the French warships would not "escort" French commercial ships in the gulf but would
"assist" them if they needed help.
Italy and the Netherlands had rejected informal U.S. requests for minesweeping aid. But
according to reports Aug. 10-13, both nations were making efforts to demonstrate their
concern about the gulf crisis. Italy had proposed that a multinational minesweeping force
be set up by the United Nations Security Council, and both the Italian and Dutch
governments were seeking to get the Western European Union involved in a gulf
diplomatic initiative.
Iran Aug. 12 warned Britain and France that their dispatch of minesweepers to the region
would only increase tensions. "If England and France want to stand back-to-back with the
American forces to implement the aggressive policies of the Reagan administration,"
Teheran radio said, "we are ready to repeat the events of Lebanon, which resulted in their
flight." (That was a reference to the multinational peacekeeping force that was forced to
withdraw from Lebanon after pro-Iranian suicide bombers blew up the U.S. and French
headquarters in Beirut in October 1983, killing about 300 troops.)
U.S. Conducts Surprise Escort
Four U.S. Navy warships quietly escorted three more reflagged Kuwaiti tankers into the
Persian Gulf Aug. 8, and the convoy arrived safely in Kuwait Aug. 11.
The operation, which began immediately after Iran had completed several days of highly
publicized naval maneuvers, caught many observers by surprise. Pentagon sources Aug. 6
had indicated that the next convoy would be delayed for up to a week to await the arrival
of minesweeping helicopters. U.S. officials denied that there had been a deliberate
disinformation campaign, but conceded that they had sought to confuse Iran about when
the next escort mission would begin. (In addition, the Pentagon did not allow a media
pool to accompany the latest convoy, as it had the first time.) [See 1987 Persian Gulf
Crisis: U.S. Delays Convoy]
The convoy traveled slowly and only during the day to avoid having to detect mines or
Iranian speedboat raiders in the dark. There was a lengthy delay when a helicopter
sighted a mine that had been dropped in front of the convoy about 100 miles (160 km)
southeast of Kuwait. It was reported Aug. 12 that the Navy had chartered an offshore
supply ship, filled it with sonar equipment and put it at the head of convoy for the final
stage of the voyage.
Administration sources in Washington Aug. 11 said that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had
quietly assisted the escort mission with minesweeping operations. A Saudi coast guard
vessel was damaged and two crewmen slightly wounded when it hit a mine in the
northern gulf Aug. 13.
U.S. F-14 Fires on Iranian Jet
The most dramatic aspect of the latest escort operation was not disclosed until Aug. 10,
when administration sources revealed that a Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter had fired two
missiles at an Iranian jet that was judged "hostile," but both missed. The incident--which
U.S. officials refused to confirm for fear of escalating tensions with Iran--had occurred
Aug. 8, as the tanker convoy passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the gulf.
The episode was closest U.S. and Iranian forces had come to combat since the U.S.Kuwaiti tanker escort operation had begun. (It was also apparently the first time U.S.
forces had fired on Iranian forces since the 1979 Islamic revolution.) It was also a
reflection of the new U.S. hair-trigger rules of engagement, under which American pilots
and ships' officers could shoot first at any target that was perceived to be operating in a
threatening manner. The rules had been adjusted after the surprise Iraqi attack in May on
the U.S.S. Stark, which killed 37 U.S. sailors.
Sources said the incident began when a suspected Iranian warplane (believed to be a
U.S.-made F-4 Phantom) was detected on radar approaching a Navy P-3 Orion maritime
reconnaissance plane based in Oman that was monitoring Iranian Silkworm missile sites.
Two F-14s from the U.S.S. Constellation approached the intruder, which refused to
acknowledge U.S. warnings. When the Iranian aircraft came within range from which it
could fire its own missiles, one of the F-14 pilots shot first, firing two Sparrow air-to-air
missiles. The Iranian jet took evasive action as it turned away, and the missiles missed.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater Aug. 11 refused to confirm the episode, but
told reporters that President Reagan had been informed "soon after the incident
happened," adding that he was referring to "the incident that I'm not confirming."
Iraq Resumes Air Attacks
Iraq broke a 25-day de facto cease-fire Aug. 10 when it carried out air strikes on six
industrial targets in Iran, including a refinery in Tabriz and other oil sites. The attacks
raised fears that Iran would retaliate with attacks on gulf shipping.
Iraq had stopped its bombing raids on July 15, shortly before the United Nations Security
Council had approved its strongest demand yet for a truce in the Iran-Iraq war. Baghdad
said the new raids were in retaliation for Iran's rejection of the U.N. effort and its shelling
of Iraqi residential areas. [See 1987 U.S. Navy Begins Escorting Reflagged Kuwaiti
Tankers; Supertanker in Convoy Hits Mine]
Iran blamed the U.S., France and Britain for the Iraqi attack and vowed to make the gulf
"a killing field for aggressors." However, many observers believed that it would not
resume open attacks on gulf shipping until Iraq had done so first.
The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 14 that the U.S. and other Persian Gulf Arab
nations had appealed to Iraq to show restraint in its attacks on Iranian economic targets in
order to avoid Iranian reprisals that might drag the U.S. into the war.
"Our policy has become hostage to Iraqi policy," one U.S. official was quoted as saying.
"The Iraqis are clearly getting frustrated because people are forgetting about the Iran-Iraq
war and only paying attention to a few mines in the gulf. They are trying to hold back,
but there is probably a point beyond which they won't be able to."