Weinberger Warns Iran to Halt Attacks : Says U.S. Forces Will ‘Teach Lessons’ if Tehran Persists

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger warned Friday that the United States will “teach lessons” to Iran if it continues to harass shipping in the Persian Gulf.

While stressing that “we don’t have any desire for war,” Weinberger told a Washington audience that if Iran interferes with neutral shipping in the gulf, “then we teach lessons or we take the necessary steps to make sure that it isn’t interfered with.”

At the same time, Weinberger confirmed for the first time that the Iranians possess sophisticated U.S.-made Stinger surface-to-air missiles.

The tough talk came a day after American military helicopters put out of action three Iranian patrol boats that reportedly fired on a U.S. surveillance helicopter. The attack left two Iranian sailors dead and four in captivity, two of them seriously injured, Pentagon officials said. Earlier, six Iranians had been reported rescued and none had been reported killed.

Asylum to Be Offered

American forces are providing medical care for the injured Iranians aboard the transport ship Raleigh in the northern gulf and will give the four captives the opportunity to seek political asylum, the State Department said.

The asylum offer represents an apparent change of U.S. policy toward Iranians captured in such actions. After the U.S. attack on the Iranian mine-laying ship Iran Ajr on Sept. 21, the United States returned 26 Iranians to Iran without giving them a chance to seek asylum.

Weinberger angrily denied Iranian charges that the U.S. helicopters fired first and said that American forces responded properly to the Iranian gunfire.

“Our men should not be required to be hit before they are authorized to respond,” the secretary said before a Washington forum sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. “So when you have a clear hostile act--and I can’t imagine anything more hostile than being shot at--you have the authority immediately, automatically to respond appropriately.”

Although Weinberger conceded that the United States does not have “absolutely conclusive evidence” that the Iranians fired first, as it did that the Iran Ajr was laying mines, he said he has no doubt that U.S. action was taken in self-defense. The American helicopters were not hit, and no U.S. servicemen were hurt, he said.

In disclosing additional details of Thursday’s attack on the Iranian patrol boats, Weinberger said that only one of the three boats fired upon was sunk, contrary to earlier Pentagon reports. Two smaller boats, described as open Boston Whaler-type boats, were “totally” disabled but not sunk and had been taken into U.S. custody by warships in the region.

“We have them under control, and we’ll be examining them fairly closely,” Weinberger said.

The third boat, a 42-foot, high-speed patrol craft built by the Boghammar boat works in Sweden, was sunk and will not be recovered, Pentagon officials said. Weinberger described the boat as “very heavily equipped,” carrying machine guns, Stinger missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

A fourth Iranian ship, described by Weinberger as a “corvette” about 160 feet long, escaped at high speed, he said.

No Additional Survivors

Weinberger probably was referring to a French-made fast attack craft of the “Kaman” class that Iran bought during the reign of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Pentagon sources said.

Although the secretary did not elaborate on the Iranians’ possession of the Stingers, the London Sunday Times and official U.S. sources said the highly effective anti-aircraft missiles were bought from one of the Afghan rebel groups. The United States has provided hundreds of the Stingers to the Muslim guerrillas fighting Soviet troops and the Kremlin-backed regime in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon official who asked not to be identified said that Navy rescue crews Friday found no additional Iranian survivors or casualties of Thursday’s attack but added that there “have to be more.”

The Boghammar boat normally carries a crew of seven, and the smaller boats are manned by at least two crew members and sometimes several more.

Pentagon sources said that the American helicopters, thought to be a small, quiet MH-6 observation craft and two Army AH-6 Sea Bat attack helicopters, had been sent aloft Thursday night because the Iranian boats were nearing an area where the Navy had anchored a huge barge.

The barge is being used as a floating base for minesweepers, Navy commando vessels and helicopters, the sources said. The confrontation with the Iranians occurred only about 15 miles from the barge, one official said.

Iran Repeatedly Warned

Weinberger’s harsh words were echoed by the State Department. Spokesman Charles Redman said that the United States has repeatedly warned Iran that it will not tolerate interference with U.S. operations in the gulf.

“We have repeatedly communicated to the Iranian government the seriousness with which we view such Iranian interference with our forces in the gulf operating in international waters and air space,” he said. “We are following up after this most recent incident and warning the government of Iran that it bears the consequences of such actions.

“The Iranians should realize that firing at a U.S. target will result in self-defense,” he added. “They’re the ones who need to exercise restraint.”

In Los Angeles, Navy Secretary James H. Webb Jr. called the action of U.S. forces in the gulf “absolutely appropriate.” But Webb also urged that the Reagan Administration clarify its aim in the Persian Gulf to avoid becoming involved in the Iran-Iraq War, noting that a “duty to respond” to attacks on U.S. ships does not qualify the United States to be “policer” of the gulf.

Webb, speaking to reporters after addressing the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, stressed repeatedly that the United States must keep its objective in the gulf to the defense of its rights to navigate in international waters.

“Tit-for-tat responses” to hostile attacks “don’t solve the problems,” Webb said.

Survivors to Be Repatriated

State department spokesman Redman told reporters that the United States would repatriate the Iranian survivors as soon as possible, if they wish to return. He said the bodies of two dead Iranian sailors “will be treated with respect and returned to Iran.”

The sailors will be interviewed “privately and individually to determine whether any of them wishes not to return and, in the event that any of them prefers not to return to Iran, we will assure that the individual or individuals be transferred to an appropriate humanitarian organization for processing as a political refugee.”

He declined to say, however, if any Iranian refugees would be permitted to come to the United States.

Redman also said that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have virtually completed work on instructions to Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar covering a new diplomatic effort to persuade Iran to abide by the council’s cease-fire resolution in the war with Iraq. Redman declined to say if the instructions would contain a deadline but said that the United States, at least, will not wait much longer.

Redman said the Security Council members also were conferring on a resolution imposing an arms embargo on Iran if the Tehran government should continue to rebuff U.N. peace initiatives.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz has said he is convinced that the Security Council will impose the embargo unless Iran accepts a cease-fire. U.N. sources, however, say that the Soviet Union wants to allow plenty of time for Perez de Cuellar to seek a diplomatic solution. A U.S.-Soviet agreement on strategy is considered essential to success of the U.N. peace effort.

Shultz said recently that “it certainly ought to be possible” for Perez de Cuellar to report on whether or not he will be able to budge Iran before Shultz meets Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze in Moscow on Oct. 22-23. Shultz said that he plans to discuss the gulf war with Shevardnadze during that trip, which is expected to focus primarily on arms control.

Demonstrating increasing impatience, Shultz said: “The image of the Security Council just being strung along is a bad one.”

Times staff writer Lori Grange, in Los Angeles, also contributed to this article.