Iraqis Repulsed, Iran Says; U.N. Team Arrives

Iran said it pushed an invading Iraqi army out of Iranian territory Sunday, while Iraq maintained that it had pulled its troops back as part of a prelude to peace in the Persian Gulf War.

The latest fighting between Iran and Iraq came despite a series of peace moves designed to end the nearly eight-year-old war. The peace initiatives have been moving forward since Iran last Monday announced its acceptance of a U.N.-sponsored cease-fire.

A U.N. team of specialists arrived Sunday in Tehran to discuss means of implementing the cease-fire and to arrange an exchange of prisoners of war, as called for in the U.N. truce resolution.

Norwegian Heads Team

The team, headed by Norwegian Lt. Gen. Martin Vadset, is expected to spend two or three days in the Iranian capital before flying to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has said that when he receives the team’s report, which is expected to be completed in about a week, and has talked with the foreign ministers of the two countries, he will announce dates for implementing the cease-fire resolution. The measure calls for the withdrawal of troops, an exchange of prisoners, talks on settling outstanding issues between the two enemies and the establishment of a commission to assess responsibility for starting the war. Iran has long stressed the importance of fixing blame for the fighting.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati left Sunday for the United Nations for discussions with Perez de Cuellar on implementing the cease-fire. Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz is also traveling to the United Nations for talks with Perez de Cuellar this week, but Iranian officials have ruled out a meeting between Velayati and Aziz.

Iraq has insisted that a cease-fire would be meaningless without first having direct negotiations between the two countries to ensure that the truce leads to a lasting peace. Iran maintains that the U.N. resolution it accepted does not mention face-to-face negotiations.

‘Savage Aggression’

Before leaving for the United Nations, Velayati released a letter he wrote to Perez de Cuellar complaining bitterly about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s latest “savage aggression.”

“In light of Iraq’s renewed military adventurism, there seems to be no guarantee that Saddam will not violate his own agreements,” Velayati said, according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran’s defenses have been collapsing since Wednesday, when the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian supreme leader, accepted the year-old U.N. Resolution 598 calling for a cease-fire and, in a public broadcast, urged front-line soldiers to refrain from bitterness at Iran’s failure to defeat the Iraqis.

On Friday, Iraq launched a major offensive along a 110-mile front designed to recapture the last Iraqi territory held by Iran and to take a large number of prisoners to be exchanged when the cease-fire takes effect.

High Iraqi Toll Claimed

IRNA said that in the fighting Sunday, Iranian regular army troops and Revolutionary Guards killed or wounded 4,000 Iraqi soldiers in southern Khuzistan province, where the Iraqis had penetrated nearly 30 miles across the international border, threatening the Iranian provincial capital of Ahvaz.

The communique said more than 200 square miles of occupied territory had been retaken and that 300 Iraqi tanks and armored personnel carriers had been destroyed.

But in Baghdad, a military spokesman said Sunday that the Iraqi 3rd Army had completed a withdrawal that began Saturday, “reaffirming that Iraq has no ambitions on the territories of Iran.”

The military spokesman added that the Iraqi army will withdraw from other occupied Iranian territory “after achieving its goals.”

Central Front Incursion

Heavy fighting was also reported along the central front east of Baghdad, where the Iranians said they had repulsed an Iraqi incursion near Sumar and Gilan-e Gharb, about 25 miles inside Iran.

Iran accused Iraq of using chemical weapons in the area and said that Iranian soldiers had used special anti-gas tactics.

Tehran Radio said Iranian gunners Sunday shot down two Iraqi jet fighters in the central sector and a helicopter on the southern front.

The Iranians also claimed to have killed Iraqi Gen. Taher Abed Rashid, the decorated commander of Iraq’s 3rd Armored Division. Iraq conceded that Rashid had been killed in a plane crash but gave no details.