The Gulf Silkworm's Sting

By Michael S. Serrill

Dawn was just breaking over the Kuwaiti coast last Friday when the sleek missile came hurtling over the horizon. A crewman aboard the Sea Isle City, a Kuwaiti-owned tanker flying the U.S. flag, peered out the window of the bridge and saw it coming. "It looked like an oxygen tank and was smoking in the rear," he recalled later. "I told the captain 'Look!,' but it was too late." Seconds later the missile slammed into the ship. The warhead exploded in the officers' quarters of the vessel, which two days earlier had left behind its escort of U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf and sailed into Kuwaiti waters to load up with refined-petroleum products. Eighteen crew members were injured, including the American captain and radioman.

The missile assault, assumed to be the work of Iran, was the first direct attack on any of the eleven Kuwaiti tankers that have been registered under the American flag and guarded by the U.S. Navy since July. The Administration quickly denounced the attack as an "outrageous act of aggression." As top national security officials gathered at the White House on Friday to formulate strategy, there was widespread speculation that the U.S. would retaliate, perhaps by attempting to destroy the Chinese-made Silkworm missiles thought to be responsible. Asked what the U.S. should do, a senior naval officer preparing papers for a National Security Planning Group meeting clenched his fist and raised it threateningly.

But the Reagan Administration prudently held its fire as U.S. officials debated the options. Secretary of State George Shultz, on a swing through the Middle East before arriving in Moscow this week, refused to spell out what the response might be. But he advised reporters, "When we have decided to take action, and have taken it, you'll know what it is." Shultz said the missile assault was less of a challenge to U.S. power than it first seemed, since the Sea Isle City was in Kuwaiti waters and thus beyond the jurisdiction of the U.S. fleet when it was hit.

The Silkworms were apparently launched from the Fao peninsula, a spit of Iraqi land north of Kuwait that is now occupied by Iran. An American air strike against the sites would seem the most logical countermeasure. But the nearest U.S. fighter-bombers are on the aircraft carrier Ranger, cruising in the Arabian Sea 1,200 miles from Fao. The jets would have to refuel in midair, since the gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, are skittish about letting them land on their territory for fear of Iranian reprisal. And because the Silkworms are truck-mounted and mobile, there is no guarantee that the U.S. jets would have anything to bomb once they got there.

Though some at the Pentagon urged swift retaliation, White House officials were apparently concerned that a U.S. military counterstrike would trigger new congressional demands that the Administration invoke the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which would require Reagan to notify Congress that U.S. military forces were in a hostile situation, then withdraw the troops after 60 days unless the House and Senate approved their remaining. Senate critics of Reagan's gulf policy promised they would redouble their efforts to force the Administration to invoke the act if the Sea Isle City attack was avenged.

As U.S. officials pondered their dilemma, the battered Sea Isle City lay off the Kuwaiti coast. The missile blast gouged a jagged hole in the starboard side of the empty tanker and left the wheelhouse blood-splattered and strewn with debris. American Captain John Hunt was blinded by flying glass and is recovering in a Kuwaiti hospital after surgery. Several other victims of the attack are hospitalized, but all are expected to survive.

The dawn attack on the reflagged tanker came almost exactly 24 hours after another missile, also thought to be an Iranian-launched Silkworm, slammed into the starboard side of the supertanker Sungari, a U.S.-owned, Liberian- registered vessel that was not under the protection of the U.S. fleet. No one , was hurt in the attack.

The Silkworms that were apparently used in both attacks have an estimated range of 50 miles, which places the damaged tankers on the outer edge of their trajectory. China adapted them from a Soviet weapon called the Styx, first developed in the 1950s. About 20 ft. long and carrying up to 1,100 lbs. of explosives, the Silkworm can fly as low as 100 ft. above the ground as it homes in on its target.

U.S. intelligence first spotted the missiles last March along the Iranian banks of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow strip of water through which all shipping must pass on its way into and out of the gulf. Though Iranian officials have frequently threatened to close the strait, such a scenario is considered unlikely, since much of Iran's own oil exports must pass through the waterway.

The Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini's fanatical followers have instead chosen to use the Silkworms for assaults on vulnerable Kuwait, which has supplied billions of dollars to Iraq during the seven-year war. Dozens of ships bound to and from Kuwait have come under fire from armed Iranian speedboats that race around the gulf. Until now, however, the Iranians have taken care not to directly attack the eleven tankers -- half the Kuwaiti-owned fleet -- now under the protection of U.S. warships.

In the past month the Iranians have twice received a taste of American sea power. On Sept. 21, U.S. helicopter gunships opened fire on an Iranian navy ship, the Iran Ajr, when it was caught laying mines; five Iranians were killed. Two weeks ago an unarmed U.S. helicopter was fired upon from Iranian speedboats. Backup helicopters responded, sinking one speedboat and disabling two others; at least two, and perhaps more, Iranian Revolutionary Guards died in the assault.

Many observers expected the U.S. response to the attack on the Sea Isle City to be no less decisive. Even the normally cautious Kuwaitis are calling for firm American action. Noting that the U.S. has stood by while ships that did not fly the American flag came under fire, an editorial in the Kuwaiti Times said, "The rationalizations that helped U.S. officials to absolve themselves of their defense responsibility in the earlier attacks may not apply" in the case of the Sea Isle City.

Keeping the confidence of the gulf Arabs is especially critical these days. During the first few weeks of the U.S. military buildup, some skeptical gulf- state rulers were unhelpful. Even the Kuwaitis, after inviting the U.S. to reflag their oil tankers, refused to allow American forces to use their naval and air bases. In recent weeks, however, there has been a turnaround. The gulf operation has been receiving an "immense amount of logistical support" from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, says an Administration official. Saudi Arabia has expanded its surveillance of the gulf with U.S.-supplied AWACS, while Bahrain provides the U.S. Navy with its only land base in the region. In Oman joint military exercises frequently take place at naval and air bases that the U.S. also uses as supply depots. The elite Delta Force practices its desert- survival drills in the sultanate, and U.S. Marines have staged mock landings on Omani beaches.

For the moment, Administration officials are asking for time to consult with U.S. allies, including Kuwait, to develop a response that does not touch off a full-scale shooting match between the U.S. and Iran. Washington is also attempting to gain permission for U.S. warships to accompany reflagged Kuwaiti vessels into the emirate's waters. If the ships were allowed in and another Silkworm was delivered, there could be no question but that the U.S. would retaliate.

U.S. officials even spoke hopefully of the continuing effort by the United Nations to broker an end to the gulf war. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar sat down with both sides last week to discuss a new blueprint for a cease-fire. But a quick breakthrough is unlikely. Indeed, Iran appears to have bolstered its arsenal with yet another missile: the U.S.-made Stinger.

Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger confirmed last week that empty Stinger packing cases were found in one of the three Iranian speedboats disabled by U.S. machine-gun fire two weeks ago. The Pentagon is investigating a report that Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized a truckload of Stingers from Afghan guerrillas within the past two months. The shoulder-fired weapons have been used by the Afghans against Soviet helicopters with devastating effect. If Iran does indeed have Stingers, U.S. aircraft in the gulf face a troublesome new threat -- and U.S. policymakers may find themselves with other opportunities to ponder retaliation.

With reporting by Dean Fischer/Kuwait and Bruce van Voorst/Washington