Reagan Blasts Iran for ‘Outrageous’ Gulf Act : 18 Injured as Missile Hits U.S.-Flag Tanker

A Kuwaiti tanker flying the American flag was hit Friday off the coast of Kuwait by a missile believed to be Iranian, increasing the likelihood of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States in the Persian Gulf.

At least 18 men were injured, including two Americans, the ship’s captain and its radio operator. The missile started a fire, which was quickly extinguished.

Officials here and in Washington said the tanker, the 81,283-ton Kuwaiti-owned Sea Isle City, was hit by what is believed to have been a Chinese-made anti-ship missile called the Silkworm, launched by Iranians.

Under Liberian Flag

It was the second incident in as many days reportedly involving a Silkworm missile. On Thursday, an American-owned supertanker, the 275-932-ton Sungari, flying the Liberian flag of convenience, was also hit by a missile and set afire in the same anchorage near Kuwait’s main oil-exporting terminal.

Friday’s incident, characterized by Secretary of State George P. Shultz as a “serious matter,” took place about 6 a.m., local time, and touched off a series of high-level meetings in the gulf region and in Washington.

Kuwait’s Cabinet met in emergency session and afterward issued a statement that specifically blamed Iran for the attack. And officials at the Pentagon in Washington said there is little doubt that Iran was responsible.

But Iran, for the time being at least, was not accepting responsibility. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted President Ali Khamenei as saying, “Where the missile comes from, the Almighty knows. . . . “

One Among Eleven

The Sea Isle City, one of 11 Kuwaiti tankers that were re-registered in the United States in July to qualify them for U.S. Navy escort, was hit as it left anchor and headed toward Al Ahmadi, an offshore oil terminal.

In Washington, according to the Associated Press, Pentagon sources said that Kuwaiti military forces detected the firing of the Silkworm and tried but failed to shoot it down with a small surface-to-air missile of their own.

The sources, who insisted on anonymity, said that Kuwaiti forces fired their missile from the island of Faylaka. One official identified the Kuwaiti missile as a “Strela,” the old Western code name for the Soviet Union’s SAM-7, a small, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile that relies on a heat-seeking warhead.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based organization that keeps track of military arsenals around the world, Kuwait is known to have bought SAM-7s from the Soviet Union. The SAM-7 has a range of only slightly more than 2 miles, however, “and it obviously wasn’t good enough to down the Silkworm,” said one source.

Oil Company Hospital

Officials here and in Washington said the 18 injured men were flown to an oil company hospital in Kuwait. The captain, identified as John Hart, was said to be one of four men in critical condition.

Among the ship’s officers were two other Americans, the first mate and the radio operator, not identified by name. The chief engineer was identified as British. Most of the injured crew members were reported to be Filipinos, and at least one was said to be a Pakistani.

Officials said they did not know the extent of the damage to the tanker. Early reports indicated that fire had broken out but was soon extinguished by the crew.

The Sea Isle City had been escorted to Kuwait on Tuesday by U.S. Navy ships, which then moved out of the area.

The Silkworm missiles that reportedly hit both the Sea Isle City and the Sungari are thought to be sited on the Faw Peninsula, just above Kuwait, in a part of Iraq seized by Iran in February, 1986.

Limit of Range

The Silkworm has a range of roughly 50 miles, suggesting that if the missiles fired Thursday and Friday were Silkworms, and came from the Faw Peninsula site, they hit targets close to the limit of their effective range.

One Western source said it seems unlikely that the Iranians were able to target a specific ship but simply hoped to hit any ship near the oil terminal.

Twice in the past few weeks, Iran has vowed to take vengeance after armed clashes in the gulf. In one of the two incidents, on Sept. 21, U.S. helicopters fired on and seized an Iranian vessel laying mines north of Bahrain. In the other, on Oct. 9, U.S. helicopters fired on and put out of action three armed Iranian boats that had opened fire on an unarmed U.S. chopper.

Iran threatened to turn the gulf into “another Vietnam” for the United States, and Friday’s missile attack appeared to be the most serious challenge yet.

As analysts here see the situation, it presents the Reagan Administration with a dilemma: Whether to respond with force and risk war with Iran or to do nothing and risk being seen as a “paper tiger.”

Focus on Kuwait

So far, Iran has concentrated its military attention on the tiny emirate of Kuwait because Kuwait provides financial aid to Iraq and permits war material for Iraq to pass through Kuwaiti ports. By attacking Kuwait, Iran apparently hopes to pressure Iraq into halting its attacks on ships transporting Iranian oil out of the gulf. Iran exports all its oil by ship.

In another incident Friday, far to the south, an Iranian vessel opened fire with a machine gun on a chartered helicopter carrying an NBC News crew. An NBC spokesman said there was “no damage to the helicopter and no injuries to the crew.”

Meanwhile, the French navy said in Paris that French mine hunters had found two mines off the busy waters off Kawr Fakkan, in the Gulf of Oman at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The area off Kawr Fakkan is used as an anchorage by oil tankers and other ships preparing to sail through the gulf.