The World - News from Dec. 14, 1988

Iran received final delivery of 50 fighter jets from China before the Aug. 20 cease-fire in its war with Iraq, diplomatic sources reported in Nicosia, Cyprus. The J-6 and F-7 jets, Chinese versions of the Soviet-built MIG-19 and MIG-21, were delivered by ship over three years through Iran’s Persian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas and assembled in Iran, the sources said. The sources said the jets, along with air-to-air missiles, were allocated to the Revolutionary Guards’ air wing, not the regular air force. Western officials could not confirm the delivery. But Don Kerr, with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the jets had been expected “for some time.”