Iran Seizes 2nd Ship, Threatens to Blockade Oil Ports

Helicopter-borne Iranian commandos seized a cargo ship off Saudi Arabia on Friday, and Tehran warned that it would blockade every oil port in the Persian Gulf if its oil exports are disrupted.

It was the second ship seized by Iran in two days. On Thursday Iran commandeered the Kuwaiti container ship Al Wattyah and confiscated some of its cargo, which Iran claimed was bound from the United States to Iraq and would aid Iraq in its war against Iran.

Iran also said Friday that its warplanes bombed an oil facility deep inside Iraq, but the Iraqi command denied it.

The captain of the ship seized Friday, Furio Gerbec, said in a telephone interview that five or six commandos had boarded the 22,425-ton Merzario Britannia from a helicopter and were joined by others in tugs. They allowed him to proceed to Kuwait after inspecting his cargo, he said.

Shipping sources said the Italian ship was seized in the northwest gulf about 55 miles north of the Saudi port of Jubail.

New Tactic

Searching ships is a new tactic in the five-year gulf war, although Iranian and Iraqi warplanes have attacked oil tankers to discourage other nations from buying their enemy’s oil. More than 130 ships have been attacked in the so-called “tanker war” since 1984. However, until this week, neither Iranian nor Iraqi forces have routinely boarded independent ships passing through the gulf.

Iranian President Ali Khamenei, speaking to tens of thousands of people gathered for Friday prayers at Tehran University, said Iranian jet fighters bombed an oil installation deep inside Iraq on Friday.

The official Iranian news agency quoted military sources as saying several Iranian planes destroyed the facility at Ain Zaleh in northwest Iraq, 155 miles from the Iranian border.

Retaliation for Kharg Raids

Khamenei said the raid was in retaliation for recent Iraqi air strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the northern gulf.

“Our oil exports were not affected but we have not and will not leave such mischief unanswered. If one day our oil exports are threatened, we will not stop at that. . . . We will not allow a single drop of oil to be exported from any port in the Persian Gulf,” he said.