International Carter worried about possible block on oil strait

Press, 26 September 1980, Page 6

International Carter worried about possible block on oil strait

NZPA-Reuter Washington

President Carter views the Iran-Iraq conflict as “a very dangerous situation that could lead to an oil cut-off threatening the world economy. As Iranian and Iraqi forces attacked each other’s oil installations and virtually halted exports, the President declared that “freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf is of paramount importance.” He urged all other nations to avoid interfering in the conflict but emphasised that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to shipping. The strait is a virtual oil lifeline, connecting the Gulf with the open waters of the Arabian Sea. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have called for restraint and a search for peaceful solutions by both sides in the fighting. Mr Carter, speaking to reporters at the White House, said there was no reason for immediate concern that world oil supplies would be severely reduced as a result of the present hostilities. But he quickly added that the world economy would suffer if other oil-producing countries in the Gulf region became unable to send shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Without giving any

details, the President said he

was consulting America’s allies about steps that might be taken to ensure freedom of shipping through the strait. In the meantime, he said, he was confident that the oil-consuming nations could make up for any shortfall in production from Iran and Iraq. Mr Carter spoke after summoning members of his National Security Council to. review the impact of the Iran-Iraq conflict on American and other Western interests in the Gulf region. 1 Tankers continued to move through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Patrol boats and helicopters of the small Omani Defence Force keep -watch on the ceaseless flow of tankers into and out of the Gulf through the 40km-wide strait. The international shipping lanes lie - on the Omani side of the channel. Ships heading into the Gulf were being questioned about their movements by radio by Iranian gunboats. But they; were not being harassed, . Gulf shipping sources cold NZPA-Reuter. Iranian forces, which the late Shah once tried to build up into the gendarmes of the area, keep watch on the strait from the north.' Omani forces monitor' movements from the rocky Musandam enclave on the tip on the

Arabian Peninsula to the south. The • Omanis, many of whose officers - are Britons working on contract, recently set up a modest naval base on Jazirat AlGhana Al-Ghanam (Goaf Island), a chunk of rock at the tip of the enclave. The island was the site of a British supply base during the Second World War.

Arab military experts say that navigation through the strait would not be interrupted if a tanker were sunk. But mining of the waterway would pose a greater threat and could block the flow to the world’s power stations and factories of oil from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as from Iraq and Iran. A British Minister said his Government was concerned that the Iraq-Iran conflict might spread but did not believe it contained the seeds of global war. “I don’t believe it’s the beginning of World War Three,” a Foreign Office Minister, Douglas Hurd, who holds special responsibility for Middle Eastern affairs, told reporters at a press lunch. “We have no indication that any other countries are planning to join the fighting. There are no signs of other countries considering inter-vention,”-he said.