Its effort to limit the Iran-Iraq war was reaffirmed by the Reagan Administration. A State Department spokesman said the United States was “prepared to work with others, particularly the states of the region, in common efforts to contain the effects of this tragic war,” but sought to minimize any appearance of a military crisis. The statement came amid growing international alarm over attacks on oil shipping in the Persian Gulf and a new assertion by Iraq that its warplanes had damaged more vessels there.
Iraq said today that its planes had attacked and damaged two large ships in the Persian Gulf, but Pentagon officials said they could not confirm the report. At least 17 ships have reportedly been attacked in recent months by Iraqi or Iranian warplanes. One Saudi tanker and two from Kuwait were reportedly hit by Iran this week. The Tehran radio today quoted Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, as saying that if the United States and the Soviet Union intervened in the conflict Iran “should prepare itself for war throughout the world.” Japan expressed worry over attacks on tankers in the gulf and urged restraint by Iran and Iraq. But a Foreign Ministry official said Japan did not regard itself as a possible mediator in the war, even though it is the only major industrial country that maintains friendly relations with both sides.
In Moscow, the official Soviet press agency Tass accused Washington today of “taking advantage of the deterioration of the situation” in the gulf and of preparing for “a fresh aggression.” President Reagan has vowed to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf into the Indian Ocean, and is a vital passageway for Western oil supplies. According to a spokesman for the Navy, American warships in the gulf currently consist of one guided missile destroyer and four frigates. An aircraft carrier task force led by the nuclear-powered USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) is operating routinely in the North Arabian Sea; it includes two destroyers, two frigates, one cruiser and a supply ship. Although they normally operate at a higher level of readiness than American warships in other parts of the world, none of these vessels, or any Navy ships in the Mediterranean, have been specially positioned in recent days because of tensions in the region, the Navy spokesman said.
Officials have refused to speculate on military contingencies for American forces, other than to say that Washington has discussed with gulf countries the possibility of providing air cover for commercial oil tankers. But if the United States was called upon to defend gulf shipping against further attacks, the most crucial factor would be availability of bases in Saudi Arabia, according to military experts. A source on the House Armed Services Committee familiar with military operations in the gulf region said that there were enough United States forces in the area now to provide protection but that the problem was bringing them close enough to operate efficiently. Maintaining continuous air support over gulf ports from the Kitty Hawk stationed in the Arabian Sea, for example, would be technically feasible but very expensive.
Eugene J. Carroll Jr., a retired Navy rear admiral now with the Center for Defense Information here, who commanded the Sixth Fleet carrier group from 1975 to 1977, said a likely contingency if United States forces were called into action would be to pull the Kitty Hawk into the throat of the Gulf of Oman. Combat air patrols of F-14 jet fighters, probably requiring airborne refueling by the Kitty Hawk’s KA-6 tankers, would then be continuously maintained. A far superior alternative, Mr. Carroll said, would be if Saudi Arabia agreed to permit American military operations on its territory. In this case, he said, squadrons of Air Force F-15’s could be flown out of Dhahran on the Persian Gulf’s western shore. It would take about 36 hours, he added, to bring the F-15’s from Air Force bases in the United States.
Tunisia has strengthened its forces on the Libyan border, apparently to match a reported buildup by Libya, Tunisian officials said today. On Wednesday the Tunisian Ambassador to Libya was recalled, and on Thursday Tunisia’s ruling Destourian Socialist Party accused Libya of provocations at the border. After a gun battle in Tripoli May 8, Libya accused Tunisia of allowing armed opponents of Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, to infiltrate into Libya through Tunisian territory. Tunisia has denied any involvement.
Climaxing a daylong summit conference, international Olympic leaders Friday expressed “full confidence” in Los Angeles Olympic organizers and formally deplored the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Games. Accusing the Soviet Union of doing “grave damage to the members of the Olympic movement,” the leaders, in a written statement, said they will use “all possible means” to induce reconsideration by the Soviets and their allies. Later, in a press conference, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain said he found no merit in any of the charges against the Los Angeles organizers or the U.S. government that the Soviets have used to justify their boycott. The immediate past president of the IOC, Ireland’s Lord Killanin, said it is clear to him that the boycott is based on “pure politics.”
“What worries me is the athletes of the world are being used for political purposes,” he added. “We’re in the trough of the Cold War.” Los Angeles Olympic President Peter V. Ueberroth expressed gratification for the support, but neither he, the Soviets nor anyone else here expressed any optimism that the Soviets would change their minds. Nor did anyone claim that Friday’s meeting changed the situation in any material way. Neither Samaranch nor any other IOC leader suggested a new strategy for fighting the boycott. But Samaranch said he continues to hold open the possibility of making a personal trip to Moscow, if the Soviets respond affirmatively to his 10-day-old suggestion that he meet with Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko. He said he has received no reply to his request.
Refuge for Andrei D. Sakharov’s wife in the United States Embassy in Moscow was sought by him in letters that were given by his wife, Yelena G. Bonner, to embassy officials, State Department officials said. Dr. Sakharov was said to have also disclosed plans for a hunger strike. But the officials said Miss Bonner had not discussed the hunger strike, which began May 2, or the appeal for her to stay in the embassy.
A car bomb exploded in a parking lot outside a sports complex 10 miles from the Irish border today, killing two people and wounding 11, the police reported. Hours earlier, two policemen were killed and another was badly wounded by a land mine that exploded under their patrol car about 40 miles from the sports complex. The Irish Republican Army took responsibility for the land mine attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the car explosion. A spokesman for the police said the two people killed at the sports complex were believed to be off-duty British soldiers.
A Greek Government spokesman said today that Greece had expelled a United States diplomat. The spokesman affirmed a published report here that the envoy was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Government spokesman, Dimitris Maroudas, said the contents of the report, in a Greek satirical newspaper, were accurate, but would not elaborate. The newspaper report appeared earlier today, shortly before the Government announcement. The report, in the newspaper Pontiki, said the diplomat, whom it identified only as Huey, had been expelled for engaging in improper activities. The newspaper said the diplomat posed as a United States Embassy employee, but was in fact the “deputy C.I.A. station chief.” A United States Embassy spokesman, Gary Edwards, refused to comment on the newspaper report.
Moslem-Hindu battles in Bombay (now Mumbai) and the nearby town of Bhiwandi killed at least 18 people in India today and injured 300. Authorities arrested 635 people and called out army troops for help. Fourteen of those killed perished in Bhiwandi, “which looks as if it is on fire,” a policeman there said by telephone. Rioting and arson went on into early today in Bombay.
The authorities of Punjab state have announced the formation of 23 police commando units to counter violence by Sikh extremists. The police reported that a 70-year-old priest, Surat Singh, was shot and killed by unidentified Sikh rivals on Thursday outside the city of Patiala, 155 miles southeast of here.
The Marcos Government was ahead of the opposition for the first time since Monday’s elections for the National Assembly, Government and independent tallies indicated. At the same time, Mr. Marcos announced that he had ordered all 28 members of his Cabinet to resign by June 30, a formality that had been anticipated in the aftermath of the elections. He said that any of those who were defeated in the elections should not expect reappointment. The announcements came as allegations of vote-counting irregularities continued to fly, most of them aimed at the President’s wealthy, well-organized ruling party. The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, a group formed to monitor the vote, reported late this evening that with about 70 percent of the ballots counted, the ruling party candidates were leading in 98 races, compared with 85 for the opposition.
Political experts said they expected that the opponents of Mr. Marcos would end up with 50 to 70 seats, a big jump from the 13 seats they won in the 1978 national election, when the country was under martial law. But some of the more unusual vote-counting developments in the last couple of days have occurred in races that are sensitive not only for the ruling party but for the Marcos family as well. This has prompted the opposition to protest several counts, lead demonstrations and issue warnings. “We will meet force with force, if necessary” to ensure a fair count, Salvador H. Laurel, president of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization, a federation of the main opposition groups, said on Thursday.
The American representative to the United Nations Trusteeship Council today rejected claims by petitioners from the Marshall Islands that a Compact for Free Association does not offer enough money to islands affected by American nuclear testing in the region. William C. Sherman, the delegate, said the representatives of the Micronesian Government were “altogether more qualified to comment accurately and intelligently on the true situation in Micronesia than self-appointed, ideologically driven outsiders.” Earlier this week, residents of Bikini and other islands in the Marshall group accused the United States of failing to take responsibility for damage caused by nuclear tests from 1946 to 1958. A group of Bikinians demanded that the American Government pay costs estimated at between $90 million and $120 million to make their island habitable again.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Robert Mugabe vowed today to begin a crackdown on opposition forces, whom he blamed for the murder of an aide. “Enough is enough,” Mr. Mugabe told hundreds of mourners at the funeral of Peter Simunyu, an official of his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union who was killed Sunday in Chegutu, a town known as Hartley before Zimbabwe’s independence, located about 80 miles southwest of the capital of Harare. Mr. Mugabe, visibly angry and his voice choking with emotion, said the opposition Zimbabwe African People’s Union, known as ZAPU, “has started something and I want to assure you that we are going to see this thing to the bitter end.” He added: “I shall give power to the police, the security forces, all of them to mount a manhunt, not only in houses but also in bushes, anthills and trees.
The economy surged at an 8.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, even faster than previously estimated, the Commerce Department reported. A rise in after-tax corporate profits in the March quarter following a dip late in 1983 was also reported. The figures were regarded as further indicating that the 18-month-old recovery will continue well into 1985.
President Reagan takes a physical, passing with flying colors. A small polyp on the colon was removed from President Reagan by physicians who discovered it during a medical examination, and an analysis found that it was benign, the White House said. In every other respect, Mr. Reagan was reported to be in good health by his doctors.
President Reagan places a call to Reverend Halverson, Chaplain of the Senate.
The President and First Lady fly to Camp David for the weekend.
Walter F. Mondale today ridiculed Senator Gary Hart’s assertion that a sizable share of the former Vice President’s national convention delegates was “tainted” and might have been elected with illegal campaign funds. At the same time Mr. Mondale, saying “God help us” if Mr. Hart was elected President, began his New Jersey campaign with an attack on the Colorado Senator’s record on arms control and the environment. What dominated Mr. Mondale’s news conference in Trenton, however, were recent statements by Mr. Hart that perhaps as many as one-third of the more than 1,500 delegates pledged to Mr. Mondale so far were, in Mr. Hart’s word, “tainted.”
Mr. Hart was referring to the states in which special labor-supported committees worked to elect Mondale delegates in primaries and caucuses. Mr. Mondale announced last month that he was dissolving the 129 committees after Mr. Hart charged that they were set up to circumvent federal limits on campaign spending. Though the committees were supposedly independent, and therefore legal, there was some evidence that they worked closely with the Mondale campaign.
The Federal Government has proposed new rules to require smoke detectors in galleys and lavatories of larger airliners. The Federal Aviation Administration also recommended that automatic fire extinguishers be installed in trash receptacles and that more hand-held fire extinguishers be placed aboard the commercial aircraft. Small commuter airlines would not be affected. The public will have until September 14 to comment on the proposal announced Thursday before new fire safety regulations are adopted. The airlines would then have a year to install the equipment. The agency acted nearly one year after a fire aboard an Air Canada DC-9 killed 23 people in an emergency landing at an airport in the Cincinnati area.
Financial markets were calmed and withdrawals apparently stemmed at the Continential Illinois National Bank and Trust Company by the historic $7.5 billion emergency aid extended Thursday by the Federal Government and private banks to insure Continental’s survival.
Oil-producing areas continue to grow despite the waning of the oil boom two years ago. Fears that the economic and population expansion in Lafayette La., a headquarters for offshore drilling, would decline as well, are said to be groundless. The continued growth of Lafayette and that of other oil-producing areas is one of the significant population changes across the United States that followed the national recession of the 1980’s, the most severe since the 1930’s, and other economic upheavals.
A Superior Court judge today ordered bail lowered for one of two men accused of supplying David Kennedy with drugs shortly before Mr. Kennedy died. Judge Dennis Collari accepted an agreement between David L. Dorr, 30, of West Yarmouth, Mass., and the Barnstable County district attorney which lowered Mr. Dorr’s bail in exchange for an agreement that Dorr surrender to Florida officials investigating Mr. Kennedy’s death. Judge Collari ordered the $50,000 cash bail dropped to $20,000 bail real estate surety. according to an assistant district attorney, Don Carpenter, who added that Mr. Dorr’s parents would put up their West Yarmouth home as collateral.
An unusual experiment in cross-cultural team play is getting under way in Fremont, California as the largest automobile companies in the United States and Japan and one of the nation’s most powerful unions prepare to manufacture a small car for the American market. It is taking place in a sprawling assembly plant that once churned out cars for General Motors for sale on the West Coast. The plant was closed in 1982 after sharply increasing sales of Japanese cars in the region made it unprofitable to operate. The small car that is to start rolling off the assembly line next December will be sold by G.M. as a Chevrolet. In fact, it will be a somewhat disguised version of the Toyota Corolla, one of the successful Japanese cars that forced the plant to be closed in the first place. The Fremont plant is now operated by New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. It is a 50-50 joint venture of G.M. and Toyota and represents the first time either of the giant manufacturers has gone to a rival for assistance.
A Dallas woman who may never have set foot on the Baylor University campus has left property worth $13.8 million to the institution, the largest single gift in Baylor’s 139-year history, university officials said today. The woman, Mattie Allen, died in August 1983 at the age of 96, leaving the school about 147 acres of prime real estate between Grapevine and Fort Worth. The land has since been sold. “To our knowledge Mattie Allen had never been on the Baylor campus,” said the university president, Herbert H. Reynolds. “She had no relatives attend Baylor, and she was not a Baylor graduate herself.”
A judge had no right to prescribe chemical castration for a man who sexually abused his stepdaughter and should have given him a harsher sentence than probation with a year in jail, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled today. The man, Roger A. Gauntlett, a 42- year-old heir to The Upjohn Company empire, must be resentenced for his no-contest plea to first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving his 14-year- old stepdaughter, the three-judge court ruled unanimously. He could be sent to prison for life, the panel said. Mr. Gauntlett entered the plea last summer as part of a deal in which other charges involving sexual abuse of the girl and her 12-year-old brother were dropped. Circuit Judge Robert L. Borsos of Kalamazoo County sentenced him to five years’ probation, with the first year to be served in the county jail, on the condition he undergo treatment with the drug Depo-Provera, a synthetic hormone made by Upjohn and used experimentally to decrease the sex drive in men.
A new nonprescription pain reliever has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Called Ibuprofen, the drug will compete with the long-established aspirin and the newer acetaminophen sold under the brand names Tylenol and Datril.
Recent improvements in influenza vaccines prompted Federal health officials yesterday to recommend vaccinations for a wider group of people, including many health professionals and any individuals who want to reduce their chances of getting the flu. In their report from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the experts cited greater effectiveness and reduced side effects associated with flu vaccines in recent years. The vaccines are especially effective in young adults, though for the past 20 years they have been recommended preferentially for the elderly and anyone with a chronic disease involving the heart, lungs, kidneys, blood or body chemistry. Such people are the most likely to suffer severe consequences, including pneumonia and death, from an attack of the flu. The statement notes that among residents of nursing homes, for example, up to 80 percent are likely to get the flu in an outbreak and as many as 30 percent of such flu victims die of its complications. Yet only about one in five high-risk individuals are now protected by the annually administered vaccine.
Larry McWilliams wins his first of the year as Pittsburgh stops the Atlanta Braves, 6–0. Pirate batterymate Tony Pena provides the offense with a grand slam.
At County Stadium, Andre Thornton hits a 7th inning grand slam as Cleveland beats Milwaukee, 8–4. Thornton finishes with 3 hits and Julio Franco has 4.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1133.79 (-8.48).
Born:
Joakim Soria, Mexican MLB pitcher (All-Star, 2008, 2010; Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A’s, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays), in Monclova, Mexico.
David Patton, MLB pitcher (Chicago Cubs), in Seattle, Washington.
Hannu Toivonen, Finnish NHL goalie (Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues), in Kalvola, Finland.
A.J. Schable, NFL defensive end (Arizona Cardinals), in Ida Grove, Iowa.
Simon Pagenaud, French auto racer (IndyCar champion, 2016; Indianapolis 500, 2019), in Poitiers, France.
History Diaries 