Iraqi Missile Barrage Kills 27 in Tehran : New Technology and Strategy Is Seen as Possibly Altering War

Iraqi missiles Tuesday rained down on Tehran, hitting civilian centers and apparently changing the character of the 7-year-old Iran-Iraq War.

Iraq said it fired at least 16 missiles at Tehran in a 28-hour period. It was the first time that ground-launched Iraqi missiles had hit the Iranian capital and, according to reports from Tehran, at least 27 people were killed.

Later Tuesday, Iran replied with at least three missiles fired into Baghdad. The barrage caused a number of casualties and destroyed houses and shops, an Iraqi military spokesman said.

The Iraqi attack appears to involve new technology and a new strategy. Last August, Iraq said it had test-fired a missile capable of reaching Tehran, more than 200 miles from the frontier, but until this week the missiles had not been used in combat.

May Be Soviet-Supplied

Iraqi spokesmen say the missiles were produced domestically, but some military analysts believe they are Soviet-supplied missiles altered to some extent in Iraq.

Radio Tehran said Iran accused Moscow of supplying the missiles, with non-nuclear warheads, to Iraq. It said the Soviet ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told that “this is not the first time American policies have been implemented against us with Russian weapons.”

According to unconfirmed reports last year, Iraq had acquired SS-12 missiles from the Soviet Union. The Iranians also use Soviet-made missiles, apparently supplied by Libya and Syria.

The Iraqi spokesman said the missiles used in the latest attacks were Iraqi-made, with a range of 400 miles. He said the attacks were a turning point and would avenge Iraqi war dead.

Telephone reports from Tehran on Tuesday described a grim scene, with air raid sirens wailing through most of the night and large areas of the capital closed off to pedestrian and vehicle traffic due to broken glass.

As the sound of the exploding missiles reverberated through the city, supporters of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolutionary regime reportedly ran into the streets shouting “Allahu akbar! “ (God is great).

“It was a nightmare,” said Ilnur Cevik, a Turkish newspaper editor who was visiting Tehran with Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal.

Members of the Turkish delegation said the Iranians, apparently not realizing that the explosions were caused by missiles rather than bombs dropped from aircraft, fired anti-aircraft guns throughout the night.

Iraq said it suspended the missile barrage against the Iranian capital in order to allow the Turkish group to leave the country. But even at the airport, the Turks were forced to disembark from their plane as the explosions resumed.

Afterward, Iran warned the people of Baghdad to flee, vowing to take revenge soon for the missile attack.

‘Language of Force’

“Only the language of force can bring the Baghdad rulers to their senses, and we will demonstrate who has the real power,” Tehran radio quoted an Iranian military spokesman as saying.

The attack on Tehran was the worst since a year ago, when the Iraqis attacked with fighter-bombers. The so-called war of the cities, which began in 1985, was suspended last year on Iraq’s initiative.

The attacks were resumed Saturday. Iraqi warplanes bombed an oil refinery in Tehran, prompting the Iranians to resume heavy shelling of Iraq’s southern port of Basra.

The Iraqis retaliated, and on Monday the Iranians fired two missiles into Baghdad, reportedly causing considerable damage to civilian areas.

Iraq said Tuesday in a communique that its decision to use missiles against Tehran marked a “decisive turning point in the history of the war.”

Change of Attitude

The statement apparently reflects a change of attitude in Baghdad. In the last eight months, Iraq’s war effort has been aimed at choking off Iran’s oil exports by attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf.

Attacks on shipping have declined sharply this year. The Iraqi campaign had little impact on Iranian oil exports, and it also angered other countries in the region because Iran responded by attacking neutral shipping in the gulf.

The Iraqis are trying to get diplomatic support for a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that would call for an arms embargo against Iran for refusing to accept a Security Council call last July for an immediate cease-fire.

The Iranians have refused to accept the resolution until the United Nations blames Iraq for starting the conflict in September, 1980, and until Iraq pays reparations of several billion dollars.