3 Iraqi Mirage Jets Downed in Dogfight, Tehran Says

The Iranian government said its jets shot down three Iraqi Mirage jets Friday in a dogfight in the northern Persian Gulf near Saudi Arabian territorial waters.

A statement on Tehran radio said the incident occurred when a squadron of eight Iraqi Mirages was trying to raid offshore Iranian oil installations.

It said Saudi helicopters were seen searching for Iraqi pilots who were believed to have bailed out from the downed aircraft.

In Baghdad, a military spokesman denied the Iranian claims and said that Iraqi warplanes hit a large naval target, Iraq’s usual term for an oil tanker or a large merchant ship, off the Iranian coast. Independent confirmation of the Iranian report was not possible.

No Exact Location

The Iranian statement said the air battle took place in the area of the Fars and Abu Ard offshore oil fields but did not give the exact location.

Both sides continued to observe a truce in air, missile and artillery attacks on each other’s cities.

Meanwhile, Iran said Friday that it has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that it has moved fissionable nuclear material to a nuclear power plant under construction at Bushehr.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s representative for Vienna-based international organizations, told reporters he had informed a meeting of the IAEA board of governors that the transfer took place this week.

Condemnation Urged

Saying there was a danger of nuclear fallout in the event of an attack, he called on the agency to condemn any threats to attack the plant.

But Iraq’s representative on the IAEA board of governors, Rahim Kital, said Iraq had never threatened to attack the Bushehr plant, which lies 40 miles from the Iran-Iraq border and is designed to have two 1,200 megawatt reactors.

“Iraq has always stated its adherence to its commitment not to attack peaceful nuclear facilities, particularly those subject to the agency’s safeguards,” he told a news conference.

“The issue raised by Iran is a war issue and has nothing to do with the agency,” he said. “We have never attacked any nuclear plants in Iran.”