The Gulf Message to Iran

"It's absurd. It's ridiculous. It's hard to believe." With those words, Senator Robert Dole of Kansas last week voiced his indignation over the news that the U.S. imported some $700 million in Iranian oil during the summer. In response, the minority leader sponsored a bill to ban all imports from Iran, which passed the Senate the next day, 98 to 0. Said Dole: "It's time to end this absurdity."

In fact, the Senate resolution is unlikely to do that, since it is attached to a defense-appropriations bill President Reagan has promised to veto because it places restrictions on his Strategic Defense Initiative. The bill, nonetheless, serves as a message to Ayatullah Khomeini: the U.S. is no longer willing to conduct business as usual. Ironically, there had been few restrictions on trade with Iran since the resolution of the 1979-81 hostage crisis, largely because of the Reagan Administration's feeling that such embargoes are not effective.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials continued to vow retribution for the U.S. attack on the ship Iran Ajr, whose crew was caught laying mines in Persian Gulf waters two weeks ago. Declared Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani: "It is sweeter for us to have a direct confrontation with the U.S. because we would be fighting with the root cause of the war." In the gulf, however, Iran avoided any confrontation with U.S. warships as the tanker war raged anew.

Rafsanjani's political position was reinforced last week, when Mehdi Hashemi was executed. Although Hashemi was accused of kidnaping, murder and plotting against the regime, his role in exposing attempts by Rafsanjani to buy arms from the U.S. in exchange for hostages helped seal his fate. After Hashemi's arrest, his supporters leaked details of Rafsanjani's deals with the U.S. to the Beirut magazine ash-Shiraa, thereby precipitating the Iran-contra scandal in the U.S.

At the United Nations, Iraq agreed to a proposal by Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar that a cease-fire and an inquiry into the responsibility for the war begin simultaneously. Iran has insisted that Iraq be branded the aggressor before it will agree to a U.N. resolution to end hostilities. There is no guarantee of the outcome of such an inquiry, even though Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran triggered the war. In the event that the probe failed to blame Iraq, Iran would almost certainly reject it and continue the fight.