Oil Ministers hold talks on Gulf shipping

Press, 12 June 1984, Page 6

Oil Ministers hold talks on Gulf shipping

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain Oil Ministers of the Arab States in the Gulf held talks yesterday on ways to protect shipping after a Kuwaiti supertanker was hit by a missile in the southernmost air strike yet reported in the Gulf war. Meanwhile, Iraq and Iran said they had agreed to a request by the United nations Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, to stop bombing each other’s civilian areas. Both sides asked Mr Perez de Cuellar to arrange for monitoring of such a pact. The Oil Ministers’ meeting in the Saudi Arabian summer capital, Taif, took place only hours after the 163,448-tonne Kuwaiti tanker, Kazimah, was struck by a missile from an unidentified aircraft in the centre of the Gulf, off Qatar. Only slight damage to the vessel was reported, but the attack well south of the Iran-Iraq war zone heightened tension over the threat to ships in the Gulf. Kuwait’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Abdel-Aziz Hussein, was quoted by the Kuwait news agency, K.U.N.A., as saying his country planned to inform the United Nations of the attack on the tanker, which was on its way to Kuwait in

ballast. The Arab Gulf States took a complaint against Iran to the U.N. Security Council after attacks on Saudi and Kuwaiti tankers in the Gulf last month. The Iraqi Government, has claimed responsibility for attacks on ships in a war zone it proclaimed in the northern part of the Gulf. Teheran Radio said the U.N. Secretary-General, at present on a Middle East tour, called for a halt in bombing raids against civilian targets to take effect today. In Baghdad, the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, said in a message to Mr Perez de Cuellar that Iraq would end attacks on civilian targets “provided Iran does the same and that you lay down at the earliest opportunity effective arrangements to supervise both sides’ commitment.” Mr Hussein added in his message, released by the Iraqi News Agency, that both sides should refrain from stationing military concentrations in civilian centres. The Iranian President, Hojatoleslam Ali Khamenei, quoted by Teheran Radio, said Iran would agree to the proposal “to show its good faith,” but reserved the

right to retaliate for any Iraqi attacks. He said Iran had launched an attack last week only after an Iraqi attack on Baneh in which more than 300 people had been killed. Mr Hussein said the Baneh attack was aimed at “a military camp which constitutes one of the important troop concentrations of Iran’s armed forces in preparation for the new aggression on Iraq.” This was a reference to a long-expected Iranian offensive which diplomats say may be launched on the southern war front, but could also come elsewhere. While agreeing to Mr Perez de Cuellar’s proposal, both sides reported fresh attacks on border towns on Sunday. Teheran Radio said the residential areas of Abadan and Khorramshahr had been shelled again by Iraq. A military communique issued by I.N.A. said five people were killed and 23 injured in Basra, and that five other towns had also come under fire. Several Iranian soldiers had been killed in fighting east of the southern port and helicopter gunships mounted successful attacks in the east Tigris sector, while on the central and northern fronts, eight Iranians were killed, it said.