IPAN-IRAQ
The Iolaaia Consultative Acaenbly'a ^Ucunoiqn of the hoatayo iatr.te vae delayed yesterday by Prine Minister Uajai's interruption toecret report on the Iran-Iraq Ivrdct situation. Tke Iraqis yesterday issued regulations governing the use of ihe Shatt at Arab uater>jay, raising the poceibilityjor confrontation vith
Debate on tho formationpecial committee to handle the hostage issue was acrimonious and apparently will be resumed at tho Assembly's next session on Sunday. Prolonged discussion is likely before the committee begins its work. The Assembly agreed yesterdayroposal by tho hardliners for the Assembly to produce "terms offor the committee.
Hardliners used the session to call for hostage trials, condemn the US, and attack secular moderates who had official contacts with the US during the Bazargan administration. Moderates like Bazargan and Ebrahim Yazdi responded by citing Khomeini's instruction last year to "prepare public opinion" for necessary military relations with the US, and the contacts Ayatollah Beheshti and other clerics had earlier with us
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Baghdad yesterday declared that all ships using the Shatt al Arab must fly the Iraqi flag, follow Iraqiinstructions, and pay tolls to Iraq. Iranian authorities are likely to balk at such measures especially for their warships cn route to the naval shipyard at Khorramshahr. Baghdad almost certainly is prepored to use force to back up its claim to the waterway. (
Fighting continued yesterday along the southern border with Iran claiming its artillery set an Iraqi oil well ablaze. Iran has avoided such action in past clashes Iraq claimed to have downed another Iranian aircraft and rcpulood Iranian tank attacks.
There have also been clashes along tho Shatt al Arab portion of the border. Those threaten key economicin Iraq and Iran. Pipelines in the area connect major Iraqi oil export terminals in the Persian Gulf with oilfields west of Al Basrah and along the border. That city ia the site of Iraq's largest refinery which handles about one-third of the country's domestic oil requirements and also is Iraq's chief deep-water commercial port,two-thirds of the country's imports. If hostilities reach the city or affect shipping on tho Shatt al Arab, Iraq could suffer major shortages of grain, machinery, and petroleum products.
and
In the Shatt aX Arab area, the Iranians are attcmpt-ing to improve defenses by sending moreeapons, and ammunition to supportan forcehe port areas of Xhorramshahr, Abadan, Khomeini*
Iraqi Diplomatic Activity
Meanwhile, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is moving to line up Arab diplomatic support for Iraq. [
dent of their capabilitiesround but less certain of their They believe, however/ Iranian Air Force will hand *
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