Iranians Fire on Neutral Gulf Tanker : Incident Seen as Direct Challenge to New U.S. Protection Pledge

MANAMA, Bahrain —  Iranian gunboats fired on a Panamanian-registered tanker today, setting it afire in the Strait of Hormuz in their first strike against a neutral vessel since the United States pledged to protect neutral shipping in the Persian Gulf.

Shipping insurer Lloyd’s of London said the Iranian gunboats attacked at 6:30 a.m. as the 4,072-ton unarmed tanker Ace Chemi, a Japanese-operated ship, steamed northward through the strait.

Gulf-based shippers said the Iranian attack ignited a fire aboard the Ace Chemi, which was en route to a gulf port from Singapore.

Lloyd’s said that the vessel’s crew was forced to abandon ship and enter lifeboats but that there were no reported casualties.

U.S. Aid Not Requested

Shippers said the attack was a direct challenge to the United States after Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci last month ordered U.S. forces in the volatile waterway to extend protection to neutral shipping.

Today’s Iranian attack was the first on shipping since the new U.S. policy was announced. It was also Iran’s first strike against shipping since Iraqi jets last weekend left five tankers blazing at the Larak Island oil-loading terminal in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving at least 20 seamen dead or missing, and more casualties from a later explosion.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said U.S. forces were aware of the attack through monitoring of shipping radio traffic but did not assist the vessel because its skipper did not request American help.

“There was an incident about midnight EDT,” Pentagon spokesman Alan Frietag said. “We had a vessel about 60 miles away from the incident and we monitored the event on radio. There was no request for assistance and no U.S. involvement in the incident.”

Series of Iran Defeats

The United States, under a program initiated last July after concentrated Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti shipping, has placed 11 reflagged Kuwaiti tankers under U.S. naval and registry protection in the vital waterway and beefed up its naval force in the Persian Gulf.

Washington’s new policy was declared after Iran suffered a series of defeats in its ground war with Iraq and at sea in clashes with U.S. forces April 18, which left six vessels of Iran’s small navy sunk or badly damaged.

U.S. officials point out that the new policy applies only to neutral mariners not carrying cargo for belligerents Iran or Iraq and not steaming through zones that Tehran and Baghdad have declared war zones.

Shipping sources said that the Panamanian skipper was probably unaware of the proximity of U.S. warships during the attack and that even if assistance had been requested, it would have taken American ships at least two hours to steam to the scene.