Iranian Boats Attack Soviet Freighter in Persian Gulf

Iranian gunboats attacked a Soviet freighter off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, damaging its hull and superstructure, shipping sources said today.

The attack on the 6,459-ton Ivan Koroteyev followed Iranian warnings to Kuwait not to seek Soviet and U.S. help to protect its vessels against Iranian attacks in the Gulf.

In Moscow, the Soviet press agency Tass confirmed that a Soviet freighter was attacked about noon Wednesday in the Persian Gulf.

It said the Ivan Koreteyev was heading for the Saudi Arabian port of Damma when it was struck by rocket and machine-gun fire from an unmarked ship.

“Serious damage was inflicted to the ship,” Tass said, but no crew members were hurt.

The attack was the first on a Soviet vessel since Iran and Iraq began hitting international shipping in the Persian Gulf in May, 1984, as a spillover of their 6 1/2-year war.

Kuwait last month leased three Soviet tankers to transport its crude oil from the gulf and is currently in the process of registering 11 of its own tankers--half its tanker fleet--as U.S. flag vessels.

Lloyds of London said the Soviet freighter left Kuwait on May 5 for Damman, in Saudi Arabia. Shipping sources in the gulf said Iranian gunboats attacked it off Dubai, in United Arab Emirates waters.