Iran starts fresh thrust in Gulf war

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 9

Iran starts fresh thrust in Gulf war

NZPA-Reuter . London Iran said yesterday that it had launched a new thrust against Iraqi forces in the Gulf war and added that both sides were locked in fierce fighting. The official Iranian News Agency said that the operation, called Ramadan, had been launched at 6 a.m. yesterday (N.Z. time). The agency, in a message telexed to Reuters in London, quoted a military communique which said that Iranian troops had “crossed successfully the first bunkers of the enemy." But it did not mention where the fighting was going on. Teheran Radio, monitored by the BBC, said that Iranian troops had advanced after crushing the first resistance put up by Iraqi forces. Earlier, the official Iraqi News Agency said that Iranian troops had launched a new attack against Iraq in the Basra area with the aim of crossing the border be-

tween the two countries. The Iranian agency quoted the communique as saying: “In order to reach determined objectives, the operation is continuing with heavy clashes." It said that one of the objectives of the thrust was “to keep at distance the Iraqi fire from cities of the Islamic homeland.” The Iranian action, came within hours of its rejection of a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a peaceful solution to the Gulf War. The Iranian Prime Minister (Mr Hossein Musavi) told Teheran radio the unanimous resolution adopted on Monday night was an attempt to save the Iraqi President (Mr Saddam Hussein). ; Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have called on Iran to end the war, saying that any escalation in the conflict could bring chaos to the oilrich region.. Iraqi forces have suffered

a series of setbacks in the 22month old war which began in late 1980 over control of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway which leads into the Gulf and Iranian territory in the oilproducing Khu'zestan province.

Mr Musavi said-that Iran would continue the war until, all its conditions had been met, and would ignore any United Nations proposals for an international force to oversee a cease-fire.

"Saddam’s regime must abandon our territory unconditionally. pay war reparations and be condemned," said Mr Musavi.

Although Iraq announced two weeks ago that its forces had pulled back to international borders, Iran has said that Iraqi troops still held strategic heights along the frontier.

The Iraqi withdrawal encouraged Iranian military and clerical leaders to adopt an increasingly tough line on ending the war.