Iraqi Strikes Reportedly Disable Last of Iran’s Berths at Kharg

Iraqi air raids have knocked out the last two working berths at Iran’s main Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf, shipping sources said Saturday.

The sources said that the loading of tankers is continuing through a flexible pipeline from the mainland but that exports were severely restricted because only one vessel could be filled at a time.

Iraq, which has reported more than 120 air raids on Kharg in the past 13 months to deny Iran vital revenue to continue the six-year-old Persian Gulf War, launched heavy strikes on the island Oct. 6 and 14.

The sources said the crippling of all 14 berths on Kharg--most of them put out of action in late 1985 and earlier this year--would hurt Iranian oil exports.

Shipping sources said it was not immediately known how long it would take for Iran to repair any of the disabled berths on the southern end of the island.

Since Iraq began attacking Kharg, Iran has been ferrying much of its oil exports to Sirri Island, close to the mouth of the gulf, in an attempt to load tankers out of range of Iraqi air attacks.

In Ankara, Turkey, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Sheikholeslam told journalists Saturday that he could give no guarantee that Iraq’s oil pipeline to Turkey would not be attacked.

“We are at war with Iraq. We cannot give guarantees to any country,” he was quoted by the Anatolian news agency as saying.

The pipeline runs from the Kirkuk oil fields to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Yumurtalik.

Iraq’s state-run news agency, meanwhile, reported that Iraq has appealed to the United Nations to intervene to stop Iran from firing long-range missiles at Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.