U.S. Sends Fast Patrol Boats to Gulf

The United States has dispatched high-speed patrol craft to the Persian Gulf for possible use by special counterterrorist teams to thwart new Iranian threats to shipping, Pentagon sources said today.

Meanwhile, an Iranian military commander announced that Tehran will deploy its first submarine this week and that Iran’s missiles are prepared for launching in case of provocation in the gulf, official Iranian media reported today.

The Pentagon sources in Washington said several of the high-speed 65-foot patrol boats left for the gulf from Charleston, S.C., aboard the amphibious assault ship Raleigh, which also carried four small wooden-hulled mine-sweeping boats to augment forces in the gulf.

Word that the 30-ton boats, armed with 40-millimeter guns, are being sent to the gulf came a day after an Administration source said Special Forces teams and additional surveillance equipment were being sent to the region. (Story, Page 9.)

To Counter Speedboats

Naval observers said the U.S. patrol boats could be used to counter Iranian speedboats that have been used to attack shipping and lay mines in the gulf.

Iran’s announcement that it will deploy a submarine was reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA, which quoted Mohzen Rezaie, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, as saying the craft will be launched during the three-day war games code-named “Martyrdom” that began at midnight Monday.

Today’s IRNA announcement is believed to be the first time the Iranians have said they have a submarine. It was not possible to independently confirm the report, which offered no details on the underwater craft. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies lists no submarines in the Iranian navy.