U.S. warship warns off vessel

Press, 5 October 1987, Page 6

U.S. warship warns off vessel

NZPA-Reuter Washington An Iranian warship in the Gulf locked its radar onto an American naval vessel on Saturday but turned it off and backed away after the United States warship issued a warning, the Defence Department said. “The Iranian warship’s radar locked onto the United States vessel and upon a verbal warning from the United States vessel the Iranians secured the radar,” Defence Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel

Keith Schneider said. “No shots were fired.” Colonel Schneider would not identify the ship or say in what part of the Gulf the incident occurred. A radar lock on a target is usually a prelude to an attack, but Colonel Schneider described the incident as routine “harassment.” “We considered it to be of a routine harassment nature involving a United States and an Iranian warship,” he said. United States television identified the American ship as the USS Kidd.

In a separate statement, the White House confirmed an incident in the northern Gulf which it said involved "some Iranian boats. There were Saudi patrol boats in the vicinity.” The White House spokesman said: “We are aware of no conflict.” The spokesman, however, would not confirm reports from oil and shipping sources in the Gulf that Saudi jets had chased off what was believed to be several Iranian gunboats.

The Gulf sources said about 35 speedboats of the type Iran has used in attacks on shipping moved towards the Ras al-Khafji terminal in Saudi Arabia during the night. Workers on offshore oil platforms saw about half a dozen jets diving at the boats. One source said there might have been shooting. Iran has generally shied away from direct attacks on Saudi and Kuwaiti oil facilities but has focused its raids on ships bound for Gulf Arab ports, especially Kuwait.