Bush Faults Iran Role in Air Disaster : Tehran Failed to Divert Plane From Area, He Tells U.N.

Vice President George Bush, delivering an unyielding defense, Thursday called Iranian allegations that a U.S. Navy cruiser deliberately fired on a commercial airliner over the Persian Gulf “offensive and absurd” and instead blamed Iranian officials for what he said was their failure to divert the jetliner from the area.

Speaking to the U.N. Security Council, which is considering a demand by Tehran for a formal condemnation of the United States, Bush said Iran must bear “a substantial measure of responsibility” for the July 3 incident, which killed 290 passengers and crew members aboard Iran Air Flight 655.

“They allowed a civilian aircraft loaded with passengers to proceed on a path over a warship engaged in active battle,” Bush declared. “That was an irresponsible and a tragic error.”

High-Profile Address

The vice president, appointed by President Reagan to deliver the high-profile address, also demanded that both Iran and its foe, Iraq, agree to an immediate cease-fire in their eight-year war. And he defended the presence and behavior of U.S. forces in the gulf, including the cruiser Vincennes, which fired the missiles that downed the Iranian craft.

The downing of the jet, he said, will not deter the United States from its active role in the region.

“I am here to reaffirm to those who depend on us, and to those who would threaten us, that we’re not going to alter this course,” he said.

The response delivered by Bush followed a 91-minute rebuke of the United States by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who challenged the U.S. position that the cruiser fired two missiles at the jet in the mistaken belief that the plane was an Iranian F-14 fighter on attack.

“What was the USS Vincennes protecting itself against?” Velayati asked. “Against the scheduled flight of an Airbus jetliner filled with 290 passengers and crew, flying within an internationally recognized civilian airway?”

‘Deliberate Fabrication’

The foreign minister said the shooting “could not have been a mistake” and accused Reagan Administration officials of engaging in a “deliberate fabrication” in releasing its version of the events. Velayati repeatedly referred to the shooting as a “massacre” and to the victims as “martyrs.”

Bush appeared angered at those remarks and later injected an impromptu reference to the Americans held hostage in Tehran for 444 days before their release on Jan. 20, 1981, the day he and President Reagan took office.

“The United States has never willfully acted to endanger innocent civilians, nor will it ever,” he said. “Contrast this, if you will, to the willful detention in inhuman conditions of Americans and others held hostage against their will. One course is civilized--and the other barbaric.”

Lukewarm Denial by Iran

Appearing before a forum he described as essentially hostile to Iran, Velayati also offered a lukewarm denial of U.S. contentions that the Vincennes warned the Airbus seven times to identify itself before firing on the jetliner.

Later, however, he softened his remarks to suggest that the Iranian pilot might not have recognized his plane as the target of the Vincennes’ warnings. Such electronic conversations have become “routine” in the crowded gulf skies, he said.

Bush and Velayati appeared before the Security Council after Iran asked the international body to publicly condemn the United States for shooting down the jetliner. No vote was taken Thursday after debate was extended into today to allow 13 other nations to comment.

The vice president did not directly ask council members to refute the request, but the tone of his remarks indicated that the United States would exercise its veto power over such a demand.

For his part, Velayati told the world body that anything less than a direct condemnation would be a “clear show of disrespect” for the victims.

‘Souls of the Martyrs’

“The souls of the martyrs and the conscience of world public opinion are awaiting,” he declared.

Bush was granted the public forum in what Administration officials said was an effort to underscore the seriousness with which the White House approached the Security Council meeting. But it was also seen widely as an opportunity for Bush to show off the foreign policy experience present on his resume that is lacking on that of his likely November opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

The vice president went out of his way to given the speech a nonpolitical appearance. No campaign officials accompanied him to New York, and the logistics of the trip were handled by his official office, not the campaign. In a quick comment to reporters as he entered U.N. headquarters, Bush said the visit was meant to further the “fundamental foreign policy interests” of the United States, not his campaign.

Walters to Preside Today

U.N. Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, who sat behind Bush on Thursday, will preside over today’s session.

In his 20-minute address, Bush harshly criticized Iran’s planting of mines in the Persian Gulf and its use of young soldiers in its costly war with Iraq.

“If they want to throw 14-year-old kids into battle in a bloody war, that’s their business,” he said. “But if they attack innocent shipping and place mines in international waters, that’s the business of all who value freedom.”

However, he also delivered the most emotional regrets uttered by a U.S. official to date, telling council members that the disaster “fills our hearts with sorrow.”

‘Of Course, We Care’

“Of course we feel badly about it,” Bush said, his voice momentarily uneven. “Of course we have compassion. Of course, we care. Our reaction to this tragedy transcends political differences and boundaries.”

During his presentation, Velayati read a transcript of the directions given the doomed jetliner by the control tower at the Bandar Abbas airfield, from which the jet departed seven minutes before the missiles were launched.

Amid the final flight orders, the controller added a personal comment to the Iran Air pilot:

“Have a nice day,” the controller said.