"Quiet War"

Iran and Iraq go full tilt

Preoccupied by Lebanon's disintegration, Western nations have paid little heed to another continuing tragedy, the seemingly endless border war between Iran and Iraq. Yet throughout the 41-month-long struggle that has claimed more than 130,000 lives, vital Western interests have been in jeopardy. That point was driven home again last week as the war entered a new cycle of bloodletting. While thousands of Iraqi and Iranian troops clashed in major battles, the widening conflict reawakened the U.S. and other oil-consuming nations to the threat of a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway through which 20% of the oil supplies of the non-Communist world passes.

The new round of violence began when Iraqi aircraft launched sudden missile and rocket attacks on seven Iranian towns, killing, according to Iran, more than 100 people. Iraq then sent its aircraft on a bombing raid over Iran's $3.5 billion petrochemical complex at Bandar-Khomeini, on the northern tip of the Persian Gulf, and later claimed to have scored "successful and effective hits."

Iran retaliated by shelling six Iraqi border settlements and launching an air attack on the town of Baquba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. That, however, turned out to be only the prelude to an offensive by elements of an Iranian force of 300,000 troops massed near the border. After eleven hours of heavy fighting, the Iranians claimed to have broken through Iraqi lines 100 miles west of Baghdad. Iraq conceded that an attack had occurred but said that the Iranians had been "crushed" by a counteroffensive and were in retreat.

Until the latest attacks, both sides had generally refrained from attacking civilians. But last year, Iranian terrorists struck in Baghdad, using nail bombs to kill scores of people at a crowded bus stop. Meanwhile, Iranian doctors have reported that Iraq has introduced chemical warfare into the conflict. While treating injured civilians in the north, they have observed symptoms of mustard-gas exposure, including skin lesions and lung hemorrhaging.

Iraq, which began the war in September 1980 in an attempt to overthrow the regime of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, which seemed quite vulnerable at the time, has belatedly realized that it can neither win nor afford the conflict. By threatening to destroy Iranian installations, including the Kharg Island oil terminal, Iraq hopes to push other gulf nations and oil-dependent Western countries into pressing Iran to negotiate a peace agreement.

Western diplomats believe Iraq can carry out its threat. In October, the country received from France five highly sophisticated Super Etendard fighter-bombers, which can be equipped with lethal Exocet missiles. The Iraqis increased the pressure earlier this month with air strikes that, they claim, sank nine "enemy naval targets" in the gulf. In response, Iran has hardened its position. Only an end to the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Iranian officials insist, will bring a settlement. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping if Iraq launches attacks on its oil facilities.

Western nations can do little to defuse the situation. The U.S., which at first adopted a studiously neutral position, has now tilted slightly in Iraq's favor. Still, says a senior State Department official, "we don't have a lot of leverage." The U.S. is providing Saddam Hussein with indirect economic assistance aimed at helping Iraq build new oil pipelines through Jordan and Saudi Arabia. With Iraqi ports closed to shipping because of the war, the country has been unable to keep oil exports up to the level necessary to finance the conflict.

As the border heats up again, however, the U.S. is finding that its stake in the dispute exceeds its influence.