Iran Says It Found Wreckage of Missing U.S. Copter

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday retrieved wreckage of an American helicopter allegedly shot down by Iranian forces in a showdown with the U.S. Navy, Tehran Radio reported.

The broadcast, monitored in Nicosia, said naval units of the Revolutionary Guards found the wreckage in the Persian Gulf and brought it ashore.

It said inspection proved the parts belonged “to the U.S. Cobra helicopter which was shot by the Iranian forces and crashed in the gulf” Monday.

The U.S. Navy blasted two offshore Iranian oil platforms Monday, touching off the most serious engagement with the Iranians since American warships began escorting reflagged Kuwaiti tankers in the gulf last summer.

The U.S. Navy sank or seriously damaged two Iranian naval frigates and four smaller vessels, and fired on Iranian jets in the clash.

Pentagon officials said in Washington that a U.S. helicopter with a two-man crew was missing in that confrontation. The missing crewmen were later identified as Capt. Stephen C. Leslie of New Bern, N.C., and Capt. Kenneth W. Hill of Thomasville, N.C.

Iran claims that its forces shot the helicopter down.

On Friday, Reagan Administration officials said that the United States will now allow American warships to assist neutral vessels under attack in the gulf.

Meanwhile, a Defense Department source said late Saturday that the deployment of Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf has been raised again at the Pentagon.

“It was the brainchild of the commandant of the Coast Guard last year and it went nowhere,” said the official, who asked that he not be identified by name. “It was raised again last week. I don’t know how serious it is.”

The New York Times said in today’s editions that the Coast Guard vessels would assist larger warships in escorting merchant vessels, keeping watch over sea lanes to prevent the laying of mines and guarding offshore installations from attacks by small craft.