Iran Fires at Kuwait but Tensions Ease in Gulf

Iran fired a guided missile at an American-operated oil field in southern Kuwait on Wednesday, but elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, tensions eased in the wake of major clashes between Iranian and U.S. naval forces.

Shipping agents in the region reported a gradual resumption of tanker traffic, which had halted after Monday’s fighting, in the southern part of the gulf and in the Strait of Hormuz.

Workers manning offshore oil installations, who had fled after Iranian boats attacked targets in the Mubarak field off the emirate of Sharjah on Monday, returned to work Wednesday, while tankers were reportedly taking on cargo routinely at the Das Island oil and gas terminal off Abu Dhabi, 30 miles from the site of one of Monday’s clashes.

Missile Missed

In the only major incident in the region, Iran reportedly fired a Soviet-made Scud missile at the Wafra oil field, 50 miles south of Kuwait’s capital. The missile apparently fell short of its intended target.

No casualties were reported, and a senior Kuwaiti official said the missile landed in the desert. The oil field is operated by Texaco.

While Iran has fired more than 70 surface-to-surface Scud missiles at targets in and around Iraqi urban areas during the so-called war of the cities, Wednesday’s attack was believed to be the first time that Iran has launched such a missile against a third country.

Iran has previously fired Chinese-made Silkworm missiles at Kuwaiti targets, but with Iranian forces being pushed back by Iraqi army advances this week on the strategic Faw Peninsula, military analysts believe that the shorter-range Silkworms may no longer be capable of reaching Kuwait.

The attack appeared to be part of an Iranian effort to avenge losses suffered in Monday’s clashes with U.S. forces, which Iran views as part of an international plot to support Iraq in the gulf war.

Shortly after the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati charged that Kuwait had effectively entered the gulf war directly by assisting Iraqi forces in their battle to retake the Faw Peninsula.

“Kuwait must accept responsibility for its actions,” Velayati said in a Tehran Radio broadcast.

Kuwait has rejected the Iranian charge that it allowed Iraqi forces to use the Kuwaiti-owned island of Bubiyan as a jumping-off point during the Faw operation.

Iran has also accused the United States of providing helicopter air support for Iraqi forces at Faw.

Iran’s initial loss Monday was two oil platforms, which Washington targeted in reprisal for damage last week to the U.S. frigate Samuel B. Roberts from a mine believed planted by Iran. When its navy responded to the attacks, Iran also lost a large patrol boat and one frigate, while a second frigate and three other gunboats were reportedly badly damaged.

Search for Copter Crew Ended

U.S. forces lost one Cobra attack helicopter and its crew of two while it was on patrol over the gulf Monday. The Pentagon said Wednesday that the Navy halted the search for the helicopter Tuesday night and that the crew members were officially listed as missing.

A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Keith Schneider, said investigators’ analysis of radio transmissions indicated that an unknown party was heard challenging an American aircraft about the time that the helicopter was last in contact. He added, however, that there were no reports of weapons fire or explosions in the area.

Iran has reported shooting down the helicopter during Monday’s clashes, but Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said no basis for the claim had been found.

Developments Wednesday came amid signs of a significant hardening of attitudes against Iran among smaller Arab states in the gulf region.

In an interview, Bahraini Information Minister Tarik Moayyid urged greater international efforts to isolate Iran.

“As long as someone is laying mines and actively engaged in hitting neutral ships in international waters, firm action is necessary,” Moayyid said. “We have to make sure they don’t get away with it.”

Moayyid urged the United States as well as European countries that have warships in the area to safeguard what he called “all innocent ships in the gulf.”

The United Arab Emirates is also believed to have hardened its position against Iran in the wake of Monday’s raids on the nearby Mubarak oil field and Tuesday’s attack on an Emirates tanker.

While in Helsinki, Finland, en route to Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Wednesday that he would again press the Kremlin to join in voting for a U.N. arms embargo against Iran, since the Tehran regime continues to refuse to enter a cease-fire with Iraq and is still mining Persian Gulf waters.

U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Jack F. Matlock Jr. said later in Helsinki that the Soviet reaction to U.S. attacks on Iranian facilities and warships, as conveyed by Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, was “barely negative, maybe not even negative.”

Times staff writers Melissa Healy in Washington and Robert C. Toth in Helsinki contributed to this story.