Iran Gunboats Attack Tanker in Persian Gulf

MANAMA, Bahrain — Three Iranian gunboats, defying U.S. Navy protection in the Persian Gulf, blasted a Panamanian-registered chemical tanker Wednesday, setting it ablaze and forcing the crew to abandon ship.

Iranian forces riddled both sides of the 6,730-ton Ace Chemi with fire from their deck guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The Japanese captain and 16 South Korean crewmen were forced to abandon ship in the Strait of Hormuz, gateway to the Persian Gulf. All were rescued by salvage tugs, said gulf-based shipping sources.

The Ace Chemi attack was the first by Iranian gunboats on a neutral vessel since April 24. It came one month after a major clash with U.S. naval forces in which six Iranian craft were sunk or disabled.

It also was the first since the Reagan Administration began a new policy May 3 that permits Navy ships to intervene in attacks on commercial vessels on request, regardless of what flag they are flying.

The attack came as the U.S. Central Command announced the Navy’s 32nd convoy of the year was sailing south through the gulf. It included one U.S.-flagged Kuwaiti tanker, the 46,723-ton Gas Prince, escorted by the missile frigate Copeland.

The attack on the Ace Chemi came 11 miles south of Iran’s Larak Island oil terminal as the ship was heading into the Persian Gulf bound for the Saudi Arabian oil port of Jubail.

The sources said an Omani warship chased off the Iranian gunboats as the tanker crew abandoned ship.

A salvage tugboat picked up the crew members as two others brought the flames under control. The tanker, operated by Mizushima Shoun K.K. company of Okayama, Japan, was reported under tow by two tug boats to the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai for repairs to its engine room, which was heavily damaged.

In Madrid, meantime, the Spanish government accepted an American proposal to extend naval protection to neutral Spanish mariners steaming through the troubled waterway.

A Spanish Foreign Ministry spokesman said the decision was not linked to an Iraqi raid on five tankers, including a Spanish tanker, Barcelona, which exploded at Larak Island on Tuesday, because the ship was coming from Iran and therefore not neutral.

Meanwhile, Iran accused Iraq of using chemical weapons in a bombing raid that killed 200 civilians and said it has launched a new offensive. Gulf analysts said the accusation--denied by Iraq--threatened to end a monthlong cease-fire in the so-called “war of the cities” between the two countries.