New twist to Gulf shipping war

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 6

New twist to Gulf shipping war

NZPA-Reuter Bahrain The Gulf shipping war appears to have taken a new twist with a French frigate commander saying he threatened to open fire on Iranian gunboats attacking a Liberian tanker in the waterway.

In Dubai, Iran’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said talks between Iran and the six Arab members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) would open soon. Ambassador Mustafa Foumeni Haeri told Reuters he was optimistic that the two sides would agree it was harmful to the interests of Gulf States to have foreign warships patrolling the Gulf. He said the meeting between officials from Iran and the GCC States, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman, would also discuss a possible halt to attacks on merchant ships. Iraq, which has assailed the proposed talks to im-

prove Iran-GCC relations, sent planes down the Gulf yesterday to hit Iran’s Lavan Island oil installations. A spokesman in Bagdad said thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky after the raid. Lavan is about two thirds of the way down the Gulf on the “rocket alley” route taken by Iranian shuttle tankers ferrying oil from Kharg Island in the north to safer trans-shipment points at the mouth of the waterway. The commander of the French frigate Dupleix, Captain Claude Musset, told reporters in Bahrain he had intervened five days ago when Iranian gunboats attacked the Liberian tanker Rainbow.

The frigate was escorting the French vessel Orion when it saw three gunboats shooting at the Rainbow. The Dupleix sped towards the scene. Captain Musset said the gunboats veered away after the frigate radioed a warning that it would open fire if they did not stop their attack. It was the first such action made public by the French navy and appeared to signal a tougher French stance towards Iran. The commander of the French task force in the region, Vice-Admiral Guy Labouerie, said in Bahrain yesterday, however, that the action did not mark an expansion of the French role, in the

Gulf to offer assistance to neutral ships. “What the Dupleix did could have been done months ago. But this was the first occasion,” he said. Rules of engagement of Western navies in the Gulf have so far held them to protecting their own national shipping. The talks between Iran and the GCC States follow mediation efforts by Syria, Teheran’s main Arab backer in its seven-and-a-half-year war with !raq. y Iraq’s Government press has bitterly attacked the proposed meeting, saying it was an attempt to drive a wedge between Bagdad and its Gulf Arab supporters.