Tanker war

History

The Iran-Iraq war began in September 1980. Before 1984, attacks against shipping had occurred, albeit on a much smaller scale. In December 1980, UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim appealed to Iran and Iraq to ensure the security of peaceful shipping in the Persian Gulf. At that time, Iran assured other countries that it would keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

In his 1988 review paper naval affairs analyst Ronald O'Rouke wrote that "Iran trapped or destroyed many Iraqi ships in port in the early stages of the war. But Iraq started the tanker war in the Gulf proper in 1981 by initiating attacks on ships steaming to or from Iranian ports at the extreme northern end of the Gulf. Iraq continued these attacks into 1984 without a parallel Iranian response at sea. In March of that year, however, Iraq increased the rate of its attacks and expanded their geographic scope by attacking ships serving more southerly Iranian points, particularly the oil-loading complex at Kharg Island. Two months later, Iran initiated its own attacks, and the tanker war became a two-way affair."

Iraq broadened the tanker war in 1984 by attacking the oil terminal and oil tankers at Kharg Island. Iraq's aim in attacking Iranian shipping was to provoke the Iranians to retaliate with extreme measures, such as closing the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic, thereby bringing about foreign intervention against Iran; the United States had threatened several times to intervene if the Strait of Hormuz were closed.

Both sides had declared an "exclusion zone", meaning areas in which they had warned ships from entering. Iraq declared the area around Iran's Kharg Island to be an exclusion zone. Kharg Island hosted Iran's principal oil shipment port. Iraq gave precise definition, in coordinates, of this exclusion zone and gave advance notification to all countries. However, Iraq did not designate any safe passage routes in this zone.

Iran declared all waters within 40 miles of its coast to be its exclusion zone. It instructed ships headed for non-Iranian ports to sail west of this line. While Iran also did not designate any safe passages in its exclusion zone, this was unnecessary. Iran's exclusion zone allowed for ships to enter and exit the Gulf, and essentially only kept such foreign ships out of its own waters.

Iran's exclusion zone made it easier for Iraq to target Iranian ships. It allowed Iraq to assume that any ship in Iran's territorial waters must be going to (or coming from) an Iranian port.

War studies scholar Stephen Phillips writes that "In January 1987, the Kuwaiti government proposed a clever scheme to deter Iranian attacks against their shipping. They asked the United States if they could reflag Kuwaiti tankers as American and receive the protection of the U.S. Navy. The administration of President Ronald Reagan debated this idea but finally agreed to it on March 7, 1987." These are known to O'Rourke as "reflagged Kuwaiti ships".

On 17 May 1987, 37 US sailors were killed in an Iraqi aircraft attack on the USS Stark. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein apologized, saying that the pilot had mistaken the US vessel for an Iranian tanker.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 598, was adopted unanimously on 20 July 1987, which engendered Operation Earnest Will (24 July 1987 – 26 September 1988), a successful US effort to protect Kuwaiti merchandise and vessel, because as noted by O'Rourke: "Aside from Iranian shipping, the most frequent victims have been ships steaming under the world's predominant flags of convenience." Western-led convoy tactics with armed guard vessels were used for protection in the latter stages of the Tanker War. In 1987 the use of towed, radar-deflecting decoys and other passive countermeasures was successfully initiated.

In total, well over 100 sailors were killed and a similar number wounded. More than 30 million tons of cargo was damaged from 1981 through 1987. It is in this conflict that in 1987 Iran perfected the art of speedboat attacks, and concentrated "their fire on the crew compartments of their target ships." Iran also used Chinese-made shore-based Silkworm missiles to good effect.

List of attacks

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

Notes

References

Footnotes

Sources

References

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2. O'Rourke, Ronald. (May 1988). "The Tanker War". Proceedings of the USNI.
3. (20–23 April 1988). "Missiles on Target; the Law of Targeting and the Tanker War". Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting.
4. Karsh, Efraim. (2002). "The Iran–Iraq War: 1980–1988". Osprey Publishing.
5. Dudley, William S.. (2007). "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History". Oxford University Press.
6. (14 August 1987). "Gulf Risks: Mines and Suicide Boats". The New York Times.
7. (20 March 2024). "Revisiting the Tanker War". War on the Rocks.
8. (19 May 1987). "US navy ordered to hit back after Exocet kills 28". The Guardian.
9. data sieve minimum of 5
10. Herman, Arthur. (7 March 1984). "Two cargo ships were hit by Iraqi missiles". United Press International.
11. "The Charming (Iraqi Attack) (Hansard, 8 March 1984)".
12. M.Daly, Thomas. (May 1985). "The Enduring Gulf War".
13. "Written Answers [4 MAY, 1984] to Questions".
14. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1984
15. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1985b
16. (13 October 1984). "Iranians Bomb Tanker From India in the Gulf". The New York Times.
17. (14 October 1984). "Liquefied Gas Ship Set Ablaze in Gulf". The New York Times.
18. Middleton, Drew. (21 October 1984). "Gulf War: Iran's Push is Limited". The New York Times.
19. "Auke Visser's International Super Tankers".
20. "Casualty Return 1985". Lloyd's register of shipping.
21. . (1987-08-10). ["Texaco Supertanker Loaded With Iranian Oil Hits Mine : Cargo Leak, None Hurt, Owner Says"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-10-mn-230-story.html). *Los Angeles Times*.
22. Phillips, John. (1987-08-10). "A U.S.-operated supertanker hit a mine outside the Persian...". United Press International.
23. Phillips, John. (1987-08-10). "U.S.-run tanker hits mine outside Persian Gulf". United Press International.
24. Reed, Jack. (1987-08-15). "A mine in the Gulf of Oman sank a...". United Press International.
25. Phillips, Jason. (1987-08-16). "The amphibious assault carrier USS Guadalcanal has arrived off...". United Press International.
26. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1988a
27. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1988b
28. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1988c
29. {{harvnb. Silverstone. 1989