Tanker Hits Mine Off Kuwait; Damage Minor

A Liberian-registered oil tanker hit a mine Wednesday near the Persian Gulf sheikdom of Kuwait, in the same general area where U.S. warships may soon begin escorting commercial ships.

No injuries were reported on board the tanker, the Primrose, which is operated by Japanese. It had just taken on a cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil when it hit the mine about 20 miles offshore.

Shipping executives described the damage from the explosion as minor. The Primrose returned to Kuwait for inspection.

The incident followed announcements in Washington that U.S. Navy warships have escorted two Kuwaiti merchant ships in the gulf, both carrying arms to Bahrain, since the first of the year.

The Reagan Administration has drawn up plans to register 11 Kuwaiti tankers under the American flag to enable the U.S. Navy to escort them in the gulf.

The mine incident was the second in recent days. Last week a Soviet-flag vessel hit a mine about 35 miles off Kuwait. The ship was one of three Soviet tankers the Russians have chartered to Kuwait to help move the sheikdom’s oil through the gulf at a time of increasing attacks on shipping by the air and sea forces of Iran and Iraq.

It was not immediately clear which side had placed the mines involved in the two incidents, although Kuwait is an ally of Iraq in its 6 1/2-year-old war with Iran. Some mines sowed by Iraq near the Iranian coast in the past have drifted south.

The incident underscored the possible risks involved in the Reagan Administration’s plan to put Kuwaiti tankers under the American flag. Opposition to the plan increased sharply last week after an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. guided-missile frigate Stark.

Kuwait has appealed to Moscow as well as Washington to ensure the safety of shipping in the gulf. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Ali Besharati, said Wednesday that Iran will respond if it is attacked by either of the superpowers.

“We will make Kuwait sorry for inviting the superpowers,” Besharati said, according to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, monitored here.

Referring to the Iraqi attack on the American frigate as “Starkgate,” the Iranian official said his country will also punish the superpowers “for aggression in the Persian Gulf.” He did not elaborate.

The Soviets on Wednesday accused the Reagan Administration of using the attack on the Stark as a pretext for building up U.S. forces in the gulf region.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri A. Gremitskikh said the United States plans to send the aircraft carrier Constellation to the gulf and that U.S. warships there have been told to fire on any target that exhibits threatening action.

“That is certainly not the way that would lead to lessening tension and settlement of the conflict,” Gremitskikh told reporters. He called on the international community to take “urgent and effective measures” to prevent the gulf war from further escalating.

Gremitskikh had no comment on newspaper reports that the Soviets have delivered $18 million in arms to Iran, using a French arms dealer as an intermediary. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, called the report a fabrication.