Iran Warns Its Forces Are Training for Suicide Attacks on U.S. Warships

Iran said Tuesday that in its three days of military maneuvers around the Persian Gulf, some units are training to make suicide attacks on U.S. warships with explosive-laden speedboats.

Shipping sources said there has been no appreciable decline in the number of merchant ships using the narrow Strait of Hormuz into the gulf after the start of the maneuvers. But one source said the key test could come after nightfall or early today, since most civilian ships travel through the strait in darkness to avoid confrontation with Iranian vessels.

Warships Warned

On Monday, Iran warned foreign ships to stay out of its territorial waters, normally 12 miles off the coast, for the duration of the maneuvers. A commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, warned warships to remain away during the exercises “or else we will confront them.”

France, which dispatched a naval task force to the gulf region last week, warned Iran on Tuesday not to interfere with shipping in international sea lanes.

Although the strait is just 24 miles wide at points, there is an international channel three miles wide in the center. Other ships travel in shallower Omani territorial waters on the southern side of the strait.

Mock Combat

IRNA said the exercises--the first by the Revolutionary Guards--began late Monday when several thousand volunteers, known as Basiji, set up bunkers and other defenses along the coast of the gulf, the strait and the Gulf of Oman.

The agency said that the Revolutionary Guards and volunteer units “ambushed enemy embankments” during the mock combat operations.

A commentary on Tehran radio said “martyrdom-seeking” volunteers “have become quite capable of approaching U.S. warships in their fast boats and dealing deadly blows.” Among Iran’s weapons are “speedboats loaded with explosives” that would ram their targets in suicide attacks, the radio said. It said the volunteers are practicing on dummy “enemy ships.”

Iranian television showed dozens of speedboats docked at a port and others cruising in the gulf, with crews manning heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

More Reflaggings

The Iranians have been threatening to attack American naval units, which have been escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers through the gulf. An American convoy, including the reflagged Kuwaiti tanker Gas Prince, cleared the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, several hours before the Iranian maneuvers began.

On Monday, Rear Adm. Harold Bernsen, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s nine-ship Mideast task force, said that three more Kuwaiti tankers will be re-registered and ready to make the trip up the gulf under escort next week.

They are the Gas King, sister ship of the Gas Prince, and two refined-products carriers, the 79,999-ton Ocean City and the 81,283-ton Sea Isle City. Kuwait has substantial sales of refined products in Western Europe under its own brand-name, Q-8.

Victims Being Returned

In other developments, Iran airlifted home the bodies of some of the Iranians killed in riots in Mecca last week. The Iranian news agency said 58 dead and 41 wounded were flown out of Saudi Arabia late Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia said that 402 people, including 275 Iranian pilgrims, were killed during rioting touched off by Iranian demonstrators during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, site of Islam’s holiest shrines.

The Iranians accused the Saudis of carrying out “a massacre” by firing at the Iranian pilgrims, who they said were innocently demonstrating against the United States, Israel and the Soviet Union. The Iranian government has called for the overthrow of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd in retaliation.

Earlier, Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi accused Saudi authorities of delaying the evacuation, saying the plane was surrounded by armed Saudi police and the crew was refused permission to leave the plane, “contrary to all international norms.”

The Iranians also have blamed the United States for the Mecca riots. For three days, Iranian officials have maintained a barrage of threats to seek revenge. IRNA quoted Revolutionary Guard Commander Mohammed Malekzadegan as saying: “Iran’s naval forces are fully prepared to take revenge on the United States and its criminal accomplices for shedding the blood of innocent pilgrims.”

Meanwhile, the first of seven Iranian delegations being sent to Islamic countries to explain the country’s position on the Mecca riots--in the wake of anti-Iranian feeling--arrived Tuesday in Pakistan. IRNA said an adviser to Iranian President Ali Khamenei met with President Zia ul-Haq. IRNA quoted Zia as expressing his sorrow at the “saddening bloodshed of Muslims in Mecca on Friday.”

Also on Tuesday, Iraq--Iran’s opponent in a bloody, almost seven-year-long war--announced that it has developed a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 400 miles, making it capable of hitting Tehran. The official Iraqi press agency said the missile was successfully tested Monday.

The Iranians have been hitting Iraq’s capital of Baghdad with Soviet-made missiles for several years, but Iraq has not had the capability of striking the Iranian capital.

At the United Nations in New York, Iran circulated a letter accusing U.S. warplanes patrolling the gulf of violating Iranian airspace on July 11. On that day, it said, three American F-14s entered Iranian airspace at 25,000 feet and were followed by two others at 20,000 feet.

A U.N. spokesman said that Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has reminded Iran that he is still awaiting its formal response to a two-week-old Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the gulf war.

Various Iranian officials made negative comments about the resolution when it was passed, but there has been no formal rejection.