Iran, Iraq Attack Persian Gulf Shipping

MANAMA, Bahrain--Iraqi jets and an Iranian warship launched fiery attacks on Persian Gulf shipping yesterday, seemingly undaunted by the growing armada of foreign warships in the gulf.

The attacks bring to 375 the number of vessels attacked or damaged by Iraqi and Iranian forces in the gulf since the war between the two nations began seven years ago, Lloyd's of London said.

Iraqi warplanes firing antiship Exocet missiles set a Cypriot tanker ablaze in Iranian waters, one day after an Iraqi air attack on a shrimp trawler killed its Australian skipper.

The London-based Lloyd's shipping underwriters said the 101,977-ton Felicity was bound for Iran's Kharg Island terminal to take a shipment of crude oil when it was attacked and set on fire.

The Felicity is one of about 16 tankers chartered by Iran to ferry oil from Kharg to a terminal at Larak island in the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

The official Iraqi News Agency said Iraqi jets hit a second ship in the gulf later in the day, but that claim was not immediately confirmed by other sources.

U.S., French and British ships are part of an international flotilla building up inside and outside the Persian Gulf that totals about 80 vessels--the largest such naval gathering since the Korean War. About six Soviet warships are also in the area.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, announced that Iran and Iraq would close their diplomatic missions in each other's country and Ankara would look after their interests through the Turkish embassies in Tehran and Baghdad.

Despite the war, Iraq and Iraq had maintained low-level diplomatic relations.

Iran, which retaliates for Iraqi strikes on its tanker routes on a ship-for-ship basis, sent a frigate to raid the Indian tanker Spic Emerald in the southern gulf. The vessel was carrying a Yugoslav-bound shipment of volatile petrochemical called ethylene dichloride, or EDC, loaded at Saudi Arabian ports.

The Indian captain, Ajay Kumar Verma, said in a ship-to-shore telephone interview that four empty tanks were hit by an Exocet missile.

"Had the tanks been full of EDC, there would have been nothing left and the ship would have exploded," said Verma, whose crippled ship was anchored yesterday at Dubai for repairs to tanks, crew quarters and port side manifold.

The 30-member all-Indian crew were safe except for breathing problems when smoke covered the tanker during a 30-minute fire on the bridge.

Maritime salvage agents reported the 85-foot Australian shrimp trawler Shenton Bluff was damaged near Iran Thursday by an Iraqi missile.

The missile hit the wheelhouse, killing the Australian captain, identified as Robert Wilcox. Australia protested to Iraq yesterday through the Iraqi ambassador in Canberra.

The trawler, owned jointly by Australian and Arab companies, was on contract to Iran. An owners' representative said in Dubai that the ship was being towed to Dubai and the company had decided to pull out all its 10-trawler fleet from the area.

A French mine sweeper discovered a mine in the Gulf of Oman near the United Arab Emirates port of Khor-Al-Fakkan, near where it found another mine the previous day, the Defense Ministry in Paris said.

A ministry statement said the mine was in "combat position" about 35 feet underwater. Earlier yesterday, the ministry said a Soviet-made MO-8 mine was found Thursday moored about 200 feet below the surface.

Iran has been blamed for the mines.

Iraqi warplanes fire Exocets from a considerable distance, which means the missiles can mistake any vessel in Iranian waters for an Iranian tanker. The Baghdad government has pledged to impede its foe's oil exports.

Iran's ship attacks are carried out mainly by Revolutionary Guards in speedboats against vessels sailing in the neutral sectors of the waterway, south of the war zone.

The 10th convoy since U.S. warships began escorting reflagged Kuwaiti tankers 21/2 months ago resumed its voyage down the Persian Gulf yesterday.

The missile frigate Hawes provided escort for the lone tanker in the convoy, the 46,723-ton Gas Prince, a liquefied gas carrier.