Defense Secretary Orders Warships to Persian Gulf

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen on Friday ordered a carrier battle group into the Persian Gulf ahead of schedule as a warning to Iran and Iraq to stop incursions into the U.S.-enforced “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq, Pentagon officials said.

The Nimitz Carrier Battle Group, which had been sailing to Singapore, will be routed directly to the Gulf and arrive by mid-October, about a week ahead of time, while two U.S. B-1 bombers deployed to Bahrain but scheduled to leave Friday will remain in the region for an extra 10 days, officials said.

“This is an indication of our ability to quickly respond to potential threats to security of our friends in the region,” said Capt. Michael Doubleday, a Pentagon spokesman.

The show of force follows a week of provocations between Iran and Iraq, longtime enemies in the Persian Gulf.

On Monday, Iranian warplanes bombed two bases in southern Iraq held by Iranian rebel groups, reportedly wounding several Iraqi civilians.

Iraqi MIG-21 and MIG-23 jets responded several hours later at night, but the Iranian jets had returned to their bases.

The actions of both countries violated the U.S.-enforced “no-fly” zone, established after the 1991 Persian Gulf War to prevent Iraqi warplanes from attacking internal dissidents. U.S. officials promptly warned both nations that they risked U.S. retaliation if further incursions took place.

“We are trying to send the signal to all parties that we will enforce the ‘no-fly’ zone,” said an official at the National Security Council. “Iran doesn’t belong in Iraqi airspace and Iraq shouldn’t use this” as an excuse to fly into the zone.

Defense officials said the United States suspects that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might use the Iranian attacks as an excuse to challenge the zone, as he has in the past, and to continue to block U.N. weapons inspections mandated after the end of the Gulf War. Earlier this week, U.N. inspectors in Iraq were stopped from visiting three sites.

While Pentagon and White House officials sought Friday to downplay the moves and insisted that no crisis is imminent, on Wall Street energy prices jumped on speculation that the events could affect the shipping route for much of the world’s oil supplies.

Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit an eight-month high.

The Nimitz battle group gives a formidable presence in the region. It includes an aircraft carrier with a crew of 5,000, 77 aircraft and more than 4.6 million pounds of air-launched missiles and bombs. It is accompanied by six other ships, including two cruisers and an attack submarine.

The battle group is currently in the South China Sea on a round-the-world deployment that began Sept. 1.