President Wants Iran to ‘Wonder What We’ll Do’

President Reagan, while refusing to indicate how the United States would respond to an attack by Iran, said Wednesday that he wants Iranians to “go to bed every night wondering what we might do.”

“I doubt that Iran would ever declare war on the United States knowing what the inevitable consequence would be,” the President said.

Reagan’s remarks on the volatile situation in the Persian Gulf intentionally left uncertain the degree to which a military response would be employed if Iran strikes U.S. targets in an expansion of its war with Iraq.

But a White House official cautioned against expecting an immediate retaliation for any Iranian attack. “The idea of a graduated, appropriate response is the one you would want to have in mind,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Following those lines, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater stressed that the United States at this stage wants to deter aggressive action. “Basically, we’re trying to play it down, to dampen the enthusiasm for making this a conflict when we don’t want one,” he said.

The question of U.S. military involvement in the gulf, where the Navy has played a constant but generally low-key role for four decades, has become extremely sensitive since the recent attack by an Iraqi jet fighter that killed 37 sailors aboard the Navy frigate Stark. The White House comments were designed to address concerns voiced by many, including key members of Congress, that an expanded U.S. role in the gulf would bring greater risks.

The delicate situation has left the White House in the uncomfortable position of assuaging these domestic fears while avoiding a weak stance in the region.

Reagan, describing the complicated circumstances in the Persian Gulf, called attention to an Iranian battery of ground-launched Silkworm anti-ship missiles, which have been purchased from China to guard the Strait of Hormuz, through which all tankers carrying oil out of the gulf must pass.

In so doing, the President made it clear that the use of such weapons would involve a military operation--and presumably a response--of greater scope than “just shooting at another vessel or shooting at an airplane.”

However, he emphasized in an interview with foreign journalists, “we’re not just in there daring someone to do something.”

In another interview with foreign reporters, Reagan said Tuesday that he did not envision the U.S. effort in the gulf “as bringing on a war.” He said he did not believe that Iran “would like to take on the United States in addition to Iraq,” which has been at war with the Tehran regime for nearly seven years.

Libya Example Cited

One White House official said that any U.S. reaction to hostile actions probably would involve the type of gradually escalated responses employed last year in the face of allegations of Libya’s support for terrorist activities.

In that case, the Administration first imposed economic sanctions, then conducted military exercises challenging the Tripoli government’s claim to sovereignty over the Gulf of Sidra. Only after a terrorist bombing was linked to Libya did the United States launch a military attack.

Despite the concerns about U.S. military involvement in the Persian Gulf, the White House has decided to press ahead with its plan to send Kuwaiti tankers into the gulf flying the U.S. flag, beginning as early as next week. This would mean that the U.S. military would protect the tankers in an effort to secure the safety of the gulf’s international waters.

Fitzwater said it was his “understanding” that 11 tankers that Kuwait has asked to place under the U.S. flag would be given U.S. Navy escorts, but others at the White House suggested that such a dramatic step might not be necessary.

The Navy has been reluctant to commit its ships to such duty. Instead, when the “re-flagging” mission was being discussed last week, it was suggested that the vessels carrying Persian Gulf oil simply would notify nearby U.S. Navy ships of their locations.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said that an escort that the Navy provided through the gulf for a shipment of U.S. arms bound for Bahrain on Monday--described Tuesday as the first such escort--was actually the second in three months. She said that an earlier shipload of tanks and other weapons was escorted through the gulf to Bahrain in February.

Oakley said the Administration is “seeking support from our European allies” for protecting shipping in the gulf and noted that both Britain and France have warships in the gulf. But U.S. officials have been skeptical that either nation would greatly increase its involvement in the region. In Brussels, North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense ministers Wednesday refused U.S. overtures for help in the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Defense Ministry said it is prepared in principle to send navy vessels to help protect Persian Gulf shipping but will do so only if conditions worsen there, Reuters news service reported from The Hague.

While key members of Congress, appearing together at a news conference, sought to draw attention to the risks inherent in missions in the war-torn region, one of them, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), emphasized the West’s heavy dependence on Persian Gulf oil, and said: “In this area, we can no longer just show the flag. We have to maintain the flag.

“There’s a big difference when you’re in a combat zone,” Glenn said on the eve of a journey to the region with Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It’s now a . . . shooting gallery.”

Warner said that the U.S. military force in the region should not reach a provocative level that would lead the Soviet Union to step up its activities there.

The two senators differed on the extent of military might required in the area. Warner argued that the seven Navy vessels in the gulf could be augmented by long-range aircraft based in the Middle East, but Glenn maintained that a greater display of military muscle in the area would serve as a deterrent to attacks on U.S. merchant shipping.

Meanwhile, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, equated the risks in the Persian Gulf with those in Lebanon in October, 1983, when a terrorist bombing killed 241 U.S. servicemen. “The environment surrounding our Navy in the Persian Gulf is as dangerous as the exposure of our Marines in Beirut,” he said.

Staff writers Paul Houston and Norman Kempster contributed to this story.