Shatt Al-Arab war steers clear of vital oil centres

Press, 23 September 1980, Page 8

Shatt Al-Arab war steers clear of vital oil centres

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Iraq says it sank eight Iranian gunboats yesterday in fierce border fighting in a bid to enforce its unilateral-ly-declared authority over a disputed waterway at the head of the Gulf. But although both sides reported heavy fighting on and near the Shatt Al-Arab waterway they both appeared to be steering clear of causing any damage to each other’s vital oil industry. No attacks were reported on huge oil refineries on either side of the disputed shipping lane, at Abadan in Iran and Basra in Iraq, though parts of their peripheries came under artillery fire. The economies of the two Islamic neighbours are heavily dependent on oil exports. Two Iraqi planes bombarded Teheran’S Mehrabad Airport yesterday and. then flew off again, airport sources said. A control tower spokesman said the attack on the Air Force section of the airport destroyed an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707 and damaged part of the runway. There were no immediate reports of casualties, he said. The Institute of Strategic Studies in London says Iraq has one. squadron of 12 Soviet-built Tu-22 bombers and another light-bomber squadron of 10 11-28 s. Western defence experts said that Iran has 445 combat aircraft compared with Iraq’s 332. The border war exploded last week after months of small-scale clashes when Iraq revoked a treaty signed in 1975 with the Shah that divided authority over the waterway between the _ two countries, and declared itself to be the sole controller of the area. It has ordered all vessels using the waterway to fly the Iraqi flag and pay Iraqi navigational dues. The dispute over the waterway could affect Iranian petroleum exports from the Abadan complex, which processes 600,000 barrels , of crude a day and is one of the largest in the world. Details of the fighting

which have been issued by the two countries’ news agencies appear to show the Iraqis to be getting the better of the fighting over Iranian forces severely depleted by purges and internal battles since the Shah left at the beginning of last year. The official Iraqi News Agency quoted a military spokesman in Bagdad as saying that three Iranian naval vessels were sunk by artillery fire and five knocked out at their base by the Iraqi Navy yesterday. An Iraqi patrol boat was hit, an Iranian tank knocked out, and an Iranian Phantom jet downed during the clashes, the spokesman stated. A Teheran military spokesman refused to comment on the report. The eight Iranian gunboats were hit after a naval battle on Saturday in which Iran said its forces .sank one Iraqi ship and forced four others to run aground. . The Iraqi News Agency also said that Arab youths were responsible for a rocket attack on Sunday on the airport at Abadan near the large Iranian oil complex,

and the port of Khorramshahr on the Shatt. An Iranian military communique quoted by the State radio, confirmed the" damage to port facilities at Khorramshahr. An Iranian naval vessel was sunk and a cargo ship was damaged, it said. Abadan airport was closed after fighting flared nearby, the report said. Late yesterday, the official Iranian Pars news agency reported fighting in other areas along land frontiers north of the waterway and quoted informed sources as saying that a tank containing more than a million litres of kerosene was set on fire near the northern Iranian city of Urumiyeh, The fire was quickly put out. Eleven people were injured. Meanwhile, in an apparent attempt to get arms, Tareq Aziz, a close adviser to the Iraqi President (Mr Saddam Hussein) has arrived in Moscow on an official visit to the Kremlin.

Teheran reports have said that a Soviet ship carrying military vehicles arrived on Thursday at the Iraqi port of Basra.