Iran Is Among Suspects in Saudi Bombing, Perry Says

The Clinton administration said Friday that it suspects the bombing of the U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia on June 25 will be linked to Iran or some other terrorist-sponsoring country and warned that the United States will retaliate if that is true.

Defense Secretary William J. Perry said that, based on preliminary information, Washington expects Saudi Arabia to issue a report soon on “an international connection” to the Dhahran bombing indicating that the terrorists were trained--or even sponsored--by a third country.

Perry’s remarks, made in an interview with National Public Radio and released by the Pentagon, offered the administration’s first indication that it believes the June 25 bombing may have been the result of outside terrorism rather than the work of Saudi dissidents.

“If we have compelling evidence of international sponsorship of that bombing, we will take strong action in response to that,” Perry said.

Asked whether the Saudi investigation would point the finger at Iran, Perry said only: “Possibly.”

At another point, he cited Iran as “the leading candidate for international terrorism . . . against the United States.”

Initial suggestions by some analysts were that hard-line Saudi fundamentalists may have attacked the U.S. housing area to embarrass the Saudi regime and weaken the alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Nineteen U.S. airmen died in the blast.

If the incident was sponsored by Iran or another country, that would change the current situation markedly, easing fears about the stability of the Saudi government and intensifying pressure on the Clinton administration to punish those responsible.

There was no indication of how the United States might retaliate.

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In 1993, the Pentagon ordered Navy warships to fire Tomahawk missiles at Iraq’s central intelligence headquarters after Baghdad was found to have been behind an aborted assassination attempt against former President George Bush.

In an earlier response, this time in retaliation for the bombing of a discotheque in West Berlin that was known to be frequented by Americans, the Reagan administration in 1986 ordered airstrikes against Libya, killing the 15-month-old adopted daughter of Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi.

President Clinton told reporters Friday that the United States still has not determined who was responsible for the bombing in Dhahran, but he vowed that, when the terrorists are found, the administration will “do our best to bring them to justice.”

Perry returned Thursday from a visit to Saudi Arabia, where he negotiated an agreement with King Fahd in which the Saudis agreed to permit the United States to move 4,000 U.S. troops now in Dhahran to a remote location and to pay half the $200-million cost.

Perry discounted reports that officials had already linked the Dhahran bombers to terrorist training camps in Iran.

He said that, while the existence of such camps is well known, there has been no indication that they were linked to the bombing.

He also said the effectiveness of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia has “attracted terrorist attention” to American facilities in the region.

“They would like to drive us out” of the Persian Gulf, he said. “We cannot let them succeed.”

U.S. officials said American forces already have begun moving out of Dhahran to the new location at Al Kharj air base, about 60 miles south of Riyadh. But they said the facilities at Al Kharj are unfinished and more construction will be needed to accommodate the U.S. forces.