The Gulf in Harm's Way

During the stalemated six-year war along their 730-mile border, Iran and Iraq have resorted to attacking tankers plying the waters of the Persian Gulf. Last week Iraqi pilots scored a strategic breakthrough when they struck Sirri Island, a key Iranian oil terminal that was thought to be beyond the reach of Iraq's fighter-bombers.

At noon Tuesday, six French-made F-1 Mirages streaked out of the west. They fired Exocet missiles and dropped laser-guided bombs on an estimated 15 tankers anchored off Sirri and on the terminal itself. Three ships were hit, ^ and one, the 233,788-ton Iranian supertanker Azarpad, was consumed by flames. Fires on two other vessels and the 6-sq.-mi. island took a day to control. In all, at least eight seamen died.

The attack rattled international oil markets and maritime insurers. Although the Sirri terminal returned to partial operation a day later, the strike stirred fears that Iran's 1.6 million-bbl.-a-day oil production, most of which passes through the facility, might be in jeopardy. In New York City some oil prices jumped by 6.67%. In London, insurers at Lloyd's, through which many tankers have coverage, doubled rates for ships traveling to the island.

Last year Iran moved its main oil-shipping operations from Kharg Island, which is only 125 miles from Iraq, to Sirri, 350 miles farther down the gulf. The switch helped keep tankers out of range of Iraq's air force. But either by using in-flight refueling, as some Western military analysts conjectured, or airfields in nearby Arab states, as the Iranians claimed, Iraq proved that it has the ability to reach Sirri. Iran, meanwhile, is trying to move its oil- loading operations to Larak Island, another 125 miles farther down the gulf and closer to the protection of Iranian air bases.

Despite the new vulnerability of the oil exports that finance Iran's war effort, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini remains determined to fight until he destroys the regime of Iraqi Strongman Saddam Hussein. Although Iran has a slight edge in the land war, Iraq in recent weeks has stepped up air attacks against targets deep inside Iran. In a retaliatory move hours before the Sirri attack, Iran for the first time in a year fired a Soviet-made Scud missile at Baghdad. Iraq said the weapon caused no damage.

Some experts fear that Iran may redouble its air attacks against tankers leaving ports in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, two of Iraq's chief financial backers. Iran could also launch its long-awaited offensive along the central battlefront between Baghdad and Basra, where Tehran claims to have 650,000 men. Whatever the response, the Sirri raid has only increased the ferocity of a seemingly endless war.