U.S. Ships Blast Iran Oil Platforms in Retaliation Act

U.S. warships attacked two strategic Iranian oil platforms today in retaliation for a mine explosion that damaged a Navy frigate and injured 10 American seamen last week, the White House said.

Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said President Reagan “directed U.S. forces at 1 a.m. EDT today to strike” Iranian oil platforms at Sirri and Sassan in the central Persian Gulf.

Fitzwater, describing these installations as “command and control radar stations for the Iranian military” said the attack was continuing when at the time he issued his statement to reporters about 2:30 this morning.

The White House spokesman said the attack was made “in response to Iran’s recent resumption of mine-laying and its attack on the Roberts.”

On Thursday, a mine blast hit the U.S. guided-missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts, leaving 10 American seamen injured. U.S. officials have said they have “substantial evidendence” that Iran planted the mine that ripped a hole in the Roberts.

Fitzwater, stressing that the United States has “repeatedly warned Iran” to stop laying mines in the gulf, said the U.S. military strike was “designed and intended to deter further mining” and represented a “lawful exerise of the U.S. right to self defense.”

Monday’s strike marked the second American attack on an Iranian target in eight months. Last October, U.S. military forces shelled an another Iranian oil platform after Iran fired a Chinese-made Silkworm missile into the Sea Isle City, a U.S.-flagged tanker plying Kuwaiti waters.

Since last summer, American warships have been escorting 11 newly U.S.-registered Kuwaiti oil tankers to underscore its commitment to keeping open vital sea lanes leading to the oil-rich gulf. The policy has been denounced in Congress and elsewhere for heightening the U.S. military presence in the dangerous region.

Iranian News Account Tehran radio quoted a war information spokesman Sunday as saying, “If the U.S. carries out any new aggression against Iran, the Islamic Republic will meet it with full force.”

The Washington Post on Saturday said that President Reagan met top advisers on Friday to assess military options against Iran for apparently sowing new mines in the Gulf.

Sassan is the sister platform to Rostam, wrecked by American gunners in October, 1987, when the Iranians fired a Chinese-made Silkworm missile into a U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker. Eighteen persons were injured in the tanker attack, including the captain.

The four U.S. Navy men most seriously injured in the mining of the Samuel B. Roberts were flown on Sunday from Bahrain to an American military hospital in West Germany.

The captain of the frigate, Cmdr. Paul X. Rinn, said his crew of “heroes” saved a ship that was hit so hard her stern rose 15 feet in the air and flames shot 100 feet through her stacks. “It was close, really close,” Rinn said. “We took a very bad hit.”

The ship pulled into the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai on Saturday.