Iran Warns Arab Nations on Aiding U.S. if War Starts

Iran warned today that if war broke out in the Persian Gulf region it would seize any base, garrison, port or pier that countries in the area allowed the United States to use.

Tehran radio quoted Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani as calling on Iranians to “be ready . . . to throw out the Americans” from Arab states in the gulf, if such facilities were made available to the United States.

Rafsanjani evidently was referring to U.S. plans to provide naval escorts for Kuwaiti tankers flying American flags.

“The time has come for us to be ready to thwart the United States (in the gulf) if war breaks out,” he said.

If any country in the southern gulf “puts a base, garrison, port or pier at the disposal of the United States (Iranians) should be ready . . . to go there, occupy it and throw out the Americans,” he said.