THE BATTALION Page 13
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1980
world
Soviet mystery
s the inpulp
'vel in an
Magazine,
Anchored minesweeper blocks trade channel
United Press International
STRAIT OF HORMUZ, Oman —
I
i;; I Since the start of the Tehran embas-
sy siege the Soviet Union has
ed the \1'B Tanchored a warship in the middle of
talyzerthala Bthe Strait of Hormuz, the world’s
■most important shipping lane. No
icccieBiti tone knows what the mystery vessel is
lall amoE h(joing there.
The Russians have had a ship
there since early November,” said a
senior Omani naval officer. “It has
- varied from the most modern guided
missile cruiser down to what they
(I \ have now, which is a leaky old mines-
■ weeper with a wooden hull.
A narrow gap of water between
Oman’s Musandam peninsula and
the west coast of Iran, the Strait con
nects the Persian Gulf with the Ara
bian Sea.
400 per a Two-thirds of the industrialized
West’s crude oil imports — from
IlSaudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,
(atarand the United Arab Emirates
transits the Strait daily on their
ray to Western refineries, an oil
tanker passing through every 19 mi
nutes.
At its narrowest, the strait is 24
dies across. Oman claims its 12-
lile territorial limit from the east
iag
hip area
r that the la
other popt
; wind,” leu
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•al toxic d
ire is
i'adswortliif
ivestigaM
About hiii
i is made;
Indians.. \
side and Iran the same from the
west. Nothing remains as interna
tional water at the heart ot the strait.
However, as it widens into the
Arabian Sea, the strait is about 29
miles wide, leaving a five-mile band
of international water between the
territorial limits of Iran and Oman.
There sits an anchored T-58 Russian
minesweeper with about 30 men on
board.
“They aren’t doing anything we
can detect,” said Capt. Malcom
Fewtrell on his Omani patrol craft.”
“They rarely even have their radar
on.
It would be natural to suspect the
boat as an electronic surveillance
“snooper” ship. But, noted Fewtrell,
a British contract officer working for
the Omani navy, it has no more
antennae than any other Russian
boat.
“They are in a position to see vir
tually everything that goes in and out
of the strait,” he said. “They could
just be doing a shipping count.
“Then again, you could argue they
just put it there to get everyone won
dering and worrying what the hell
it’s there for.”
Most wondering is done by the
Omanis who have sole responsibility
for keeping the area trouble-free.
The Iranian navy, once supreme in
the gulf, has rarely been seen since
the fall of the shah, and its ships are
not believed to be in good condition.
The Omanis have only limited
facilities for protecting the crucial
waterway. They are building a radar
and naval base on Goat Island in the
strait to monitor traffic, but until that
is completed next year, the world’s
most strategic shipping lane will con
tinue to be guarded by one marine
patrol craft with a 3-inch gun.
Surprisingly, the Omanis feel lit
tle more naval protection is really
necessary.
“All this talk about threats to the
strait or some terrorists sinking a
tanker there is very much over
exaggerated,” said a senior Omani
naval commander.
“If terrorists blew up a tanker in
the strait, all we would have to do is
route the traffic around it. There’s
plenty of room for that. Once it sank,
we would sail right over it. The water
here is up to 300 feet deep.”
Saudi Arabian oil minister Sheikh
Ahmed Zaki Yamani once suggested
that desperate terrorists might try to
British cut staff in Tehran
“We hamB
id the lift:
lemicals ii
)6 cheinkatl United Press International
the skslfi LONDON — Britain’s ambassa-
Is were ill fj^ or to f ran > Sir John Graham, re-
p turned for consultations Tuesday and
| the Foreign Office said the embassy
staff in Tehran is being cut drastic
ally.
Officials indicated both moves
ere designed to support President
arter’s campaign for release of the
50 hostages held for 171 days in the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
ee
But they said this did not amount
to breaking off diplomatic relations
with Iran.
Graham flew back from Tehran
Tuesday morning. Officials said he
will report to Foreign Secretary
Lord Carrington on conditions
there.
They said most of the approxi
mately 30 other British Embassy
staff members in Tehran also have
y
Miss Lillian
tours Israel
n s posmS®
he conr. ' **
chairmaiiB
D-Wiu
House la!'
uld have; ■’
vr'U.'nnmfea United Press International
to Jh ' JERUSALEM — President Car-
s it mizlit! id er smot h er ’ 'Miss Lillian,” is wind-
govcrni: in 8 U P a four-day visit to Israel, dur-
[inent to! 3j n g w fo c h s h e met with Prime Minis-
er these: | er Menachem Begin.
Asked if son Jimmy gave her any
idvice for her meeting with Begin,
he said, “Jimmy never tells me how
to act anywhere. ”
Mrs. Carter, 81, was asked if she
intended to meet with any Palesti-
H Jiians in Jerusalem or the occupied
,j o j ^West Bank during her stay.
I J’ . ; “I don’t know a Palestinian from an
ce " 3 Israelite,” she said. “I don’t know
ilomatki /0ne ^ rom other. I think I have
, i 1 ^net some people who were from
r or e Palestine. They were just like the
|Israelites to me.”
She added, “Everyone is friendly
to me.”
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hijack a tanker sailing through the
strait, but experienced sailors dis
miss this prospect as totally un
realistic.
“You’ve got to be a right little
James Bond to go up the side of a
tanker steaming at 15 knots,” said
Fewtrell.
“If I were a madman, I might try
it, but no professional sailor would.
It’s virtually impossible.”
The Omanis do take one threat
seriously — mines. They are cheap,
easy to lay and difficult to sweep. A
few well-placed mines could bottle
up millions of barrels of oil in the
gulf. They are all the more danger
ous since neither the Americans, the
Omanis nor any other gulf state has a
minesweeper in the vicinity.
Ironically, the only minesweeper
around belongs to the Soviet navy.
And nobody knows what it’s doing
there.
13 Liberian officials
killed by firing squad
United Press International
MONROVIA, Liberia — Firing
squads executed 13 former ministers
and officials of the ousted Liberian
regime Tuesday, including the
brother of slain President William
Tolbert.
A large crowd shouting “kill the
rogues” and “let us be free” watched
as the 13 were led to their deaths
near the military training center in
Monrovia.
Among those executed was Frank
E. Tolbert, the former president’s
eldest brother, who had been presi
dent pro tern of the Senate.
instructions to prepare to return
home, leaving only a handful on duty
in the Iranian capital.
In an earlier crisis in January, the
British Embassy staff in Tehran was
slashed to eight members, but was
later built up again.
British citizens are being advised
to leave Iran as soon as possible un
less they have a pressing need to stay
in the country.
y, / I ** 'W W* \
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Choice of one other
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WEEKEND
Friday, April 25
Senior Bash
Lakeview — 8-12 p.m.
Saturday, April 26
Senior Banquet
Brazos Center — 5-8 p.m.
Ring Dance
MSC and Rudder Exhibit Hall — 9 p.m.-l a.m.
Formal Dress (tuxedos not required)
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