PERSIAN GULF WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000201200006-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2008
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 14, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/12/10: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201200006-9
ABC WU1tLJ D!1':W5 TuAltanl'
14 May 1984
PERSIAN GULF JENNINGS: There has been another attack on an oil tanker
WAR in the Persian Gulf. There have been a number in the past
few weeks. And until now it's usually been the Iraqis who
said they did it. As our Pentagon correspondent John
McWethy reports, it does not look now as if the Iraqis are
the only ones.
MCWETHY: U.S. intelligence sources say there is growing
evidence that Iran, though it has not claimed credit, may
now be attacking oil tankers in the Persian Gulf,
signaling a new a much more dangerous phase in the
three-and-one-half-year war between Iran an Iraq.
Previously, only Iraq had attack oil tankers in the Gulf,
striking those leaving Iran's primary oil terminal at
Kharg Island. The goal: hurt Iran. Now it appears that
Iran is striking back, hitting at least one tanker full of
oil from Iraq's friend and neighbor, Kuwait, thus
broadening the targets of the war and making the gulf a
far more dangerous place for tankers to operate. U.S.
intelligence sources say a Kuwaiti tanker was attacl ?in
the Central Persian Gulf over the weekend. An American
AWACS early warning plane, operating out of Saudi Arabia,
detected only Iranian aircraft in the vicinity. U.S.
sources say no Iraqi planes were even in the air. As a
result of the increased violence in the gulf, more than a
dozen tankers have been hit since March. Insurance rates
for tankers again rose today, this time by 50 percent. It
will cost a supertanker, carrying $50 million of oil from
the gulf, $1.5 million to insure the tanker and its
contents for a week. Intelligence sources say over the
weekend an Iranian pilot, flying an American-made F-5
fighter flew over the Persian Gulf to Saudi Arabia, where
he defected. There is reportedly great excitement within
the intelligence community about what this defector may
know, about the condition of Iran's air force and future
intentions of its government. John McWethy, ABC News, the
Pentagon.
Approved For Release 2008/12/10: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000201200006-9