Herald November 23, 1987 Monday US Warned Off As Greek Ships

Herald

November 23, 1987 Monday

US warned off as Greek ships hit - Iran

LENGTH: 283 words

BAHRAIN, SUNDAY Iran attacked two Greek-flag vessels in the Gulf in 12 hours and said today its forces also fired on US helicopters which tried to interfere in one of the raids. Regional shipping sources said Iranian gunners fired at the 29,018-tonne Jimilta near Iran's Farsi Island in the northern Gulf and Iranian speedboats later strafed the 63,953-tonne Andromena with rocket-propelled grenades in the southern Gulf.

Iran's navy chief, quoted by Tehran Radio, said four US helicopters and two naval ships appeared yesterday as his men were inspecting the Jimitla for Iraki-bound cargo. "But the (Iranian) navy personnel, prepared to respond to any aggressive move by the Americans, fired on the helicopters and eventually led the ship to an Iranian port," Commodore Mohammed Hossein Malekadegan said. US warships have been operating near the Iranian base on Farsi Island since Thursday and a US Navy spokesman said minesweepers had found and destroyed seven mines in the region. The twin Iranian attacks followed repeated Iraki air raids on Tehran's oil exports. In the ground war, an Iranian communique said "attacking Muslim combatants" killed at least 2000 Iraki soldiers and captured 30 sq km of territory in fighting in the Sulaymaniyah region of north-east Irak yesterday. Defence Ministers of six Gulf Arab states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, ended talks today with a pledge to increase military co-operation in the face of threats posed by the Gulf War. The US has asked West Germany for more military and political support for its action in the Gulf, according to a weekly German magazine.REUTER, AFP END OF STORY

SUBJECT: NAVIES (90%); NAVAL VESSELS (90%); WAR & CONFLICT (78%); DESERT STORM (78%); MILITARY WEAPONS (76%); ARMED FORCES (75%); MUSLIMS & ISLAM (73%); DEFENSE DEPARTMENTS (70%);

COMPANY: UNITED ARAB STEVEDORING (54%);

ORGANIZATION: US NAVY (56%);

CITY: TEHRAN, IRAN (91%);

COUNTRY: IRAN (96%); UNITED STATES (93%); GERMANY (90%); UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (79%); KUWAIT (79%); GULF STATES (79%); SAUDI ARABIA (79%);

LOAD-DATE: September 19, 2003

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

JOURNAL-CODE: DHD