Iran Troops Told to Stop Firing 11 Days Before Truce

Iran ordered its troops to hold their fire today, 11 days ahead of a U.N.-mediated truce with Iraq, while the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the establishment of a new peace-keeping operation to monitor the cease-fire.

The mood in Iran and Iraq today was a stark study in contrasts. The end of the fighting was welcomed in Tehran with relief, if little joy, while celebrations enlivened Baghdad.

Military chief Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, quoted by Tehran Radio, told his forces to start no military action after the U.N. announcement on Monday of setting Aug. 20 as the date for a cease-fire with Iraq.

But he warned troops to be prepared for further aggression in the war, which has claimed more than 1 million casualties since it broke out in September, 1980.

The new U.N. peace-keeping group, the U.N. Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group, will consist of about 350 unarmed observers assisted by a military and civilian support staff.

It will also provide planes and helicopters to support the observers, and it may also include a small naval unit to patrol the Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq.

The Security Council acted at a meeting that lasted only a few minutes. There were no speeches.

Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in a written report to the council, said advance units could be on their way to the area immediately.

Awareness of the toll of the eight-year war weighed heavily on Tehran today.

“How can we celebrate when we have lost more than half a million dead?” asked one middle-aged businessman, whose son was on the central front.

“Yes, we are happy the war ends, but so many people have lost those they loved.”

“Iran is very angry--boys have been killed. The cease-fire is good, but . . .,” said a sales assistant from a clothing shop in Tehran’s main Valiasar street.

Pictures of those killed at the front hung in Tehran’s streets, which remained largely quiet in contrast to the revelry in Baghdad.

There, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, including troops dancing and firing rifles in the air, spent Monday night in the streets celebrating the announcement of the cease-fire.

Iraqis of all ages packed the streets making V-for-Victory signs and waving Iraqi flags, pictures of President Saddam Hussein and olive branches.