Jet Threat

New Persian Gulf equation?

For the past three years, Iraq and Iran have been like scorpions in a bottle, stuck in a war that seemingly has no end. Well over 100,000 from both sides have been killed; thousands more have been taken prisoners. Now, a new element may enter the grim struggle, possibly altering its scope and stakes: according to French press reports, neither confirmed nor denied by the authorities over the weekend, the French government is sending to Iraq five highly sophisticated Super Etendard fighter-bombers. The planes, flown by French pilots, were said to have taken off from Landivisiau air base in Brittany, bound for southern France or Corsica prior to being handed over to Iraq.

Iraq has already received from France 20 Exocet air-to-surface missiles, the same weapon that the Argentines used to such deadly effect against the British in the Falklands war last year. Once the Super Etendards are equipped with the Exocets, the Iraqis would have a weapons system capable of hitting and blocking Iranian oil facilities that still ship an estimated 2.2 million bbl. per day of crude.

The Iranian government has warned that if its oil installations are threatened in any way, it will shut down ship traffic in the gulf by bottling up the entrance at the Strait of Hormuz. Such a move would seriously disrupt the lifeline of gulf oil, most notably from Saudi Arabia, to the rest of the world. About 50% of Japan's oil imports, nearly 40% of Western Europe's and 10% of the U.S.'s come from the region.

In past weeks, officials from the U.S., Britain, West Germany and several gulf nations have expressed their misgivings to the government of President Francois Mitterrand about the jet delivery. Paris did hold up the transfer for three weeks, partly because the government did not want the news to come out before Mitterrand's speech on nuclear disarmament at the United Nations late last month. But French officials have also argued that the Super Etendards might, in fact, persuade the Iranians to pursue a negotiated settlement--to which Iraq is already pledged--thus ending the bloodshed. The French have another, less noble reason: Iraq owes France between $5 billion and $7 billion for previous arms deliveries. If Baghdad loses the war, Paris has little hope of collecting. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.