United States Military Aid Kuwait

U.S. warships and aircraft sank or heavily damaged six Iranian navy ships Monday as a major confrontation erupted in the Persian Gulf in the wake of the United States' early morning strike against two Iranian oil platforms, the Reagan Administration said. U.S. and Iranian forces fired on each other in the broadest and most direct conflict yet, suddenly escalating what for months had been a war of nerves in the volatile waterway. After ordering U.S.

The Clinton Administration announced military measures Thursday aimed at increasing the readiness of U.S. forces and equipment available for use against Iraq, in response to what the Pentagon called "unusual movements" by Iraqi armed forces, possibly toward Kuwait. Defense Department officials said they were moving equipment--including tanks, ammunition and supplies available for use by Marines and the U.S. Army--closer to the Persian Gulf.

As the Reagan Administration proceeds with plans to provide naval escorts for Kuwaiti tankers in the Persian Gulf, diplomats and Arab officials are expressing growing concern that the United States may be drawn into an unpredictable situation with uncontrollable consequences. Until now, the nearly seven-year-old Persian Gulf War, while devastating to the combatants, Iran and Iraq, has had little impact on the outside world. However, the U.S.

U.S. forces, bolstering Washington's commitment to Persian Gulf security, on Sunday delivered about 30 tanks, artillery pieces and armored vehicles to strengthen an arsenal permanently stationed in Kuwait.

A U.S. congressional delegation conferred with Kuwaiti leaders Saturday on a plan for U.S. warships to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers flying the American flag. The delegation, led by Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, includes 11 other congressmen and 15 staff members. It is seeking to evaluate the risks involved in the plan to re-register 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers as American ships and to provide them with U.S. Navy escorts in the gulf.

President Reagan, rejecting the advice of key members of Congress and pressing ahead with his intention to escort Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, has ordered the U.S. Navy to proceed with plans and begin the operation by mid-July, the White House announced Tuesday. "There's opposition to almost everything we want to do," Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger told reporters. "But the fact of the matter is that delay is not going to change the issue.

U.S. warships attacked two strategic Iranian oil platforms today in retaliation for a mine explosion that damaged a Navy frigate and injured 10 American seamen last week, the White House said. Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said President Reagan "directed U.S. forces at 1 a.m. EDT today to strike" Iranian oil platforms at Sirri and Sassan in the central Persian Gulf.

U.S. warships on Tuesday escorted a Kuwaiti tanker southward toward a major Persian Gulf shipping channel where British minesweepers spotted at least one mine, believed planted by Iran, witnesses and shipping sources said. Meantime, suspected Iranian Revolutionary Guards attacked a Greek-flagged tanker in the southern gulf on Tuesday night, just hours after Iraqi warplanes set an Iranian oil tanker aflame in the north, shipping officials reported.

Here is a chronology of major military events in the Persian Gulf naval warfare that have involved the United States: Sept. 22, 1980--After months of minor border clashes, the Iran-Iraq War begins. U.S. proclaims neutrality but says that oil must keep flowing through the gulf. Dec. 10, 1986--Kuwait asks U.S. protection against Iranian attacks on its oil tankers in the Persian Gulf through a controversial re-flagging program.

The U.S. helicopter attack on an Iranian mine-laying vessel in the Persian Gulf on Monday left three crewmen dead and two missing, and 10 mines were captured by Navy commandos who boarded the ship, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Iran, warning that it will make America regret its "wicked acts," demanded that the United States hand over the remainder of the ship's crew.

The emir sent one of his best Boeing 747 passenger jets out for alterations this week--a royal bedroom suite, a formal dining room, several posh guest rooms and decor fit for a king. It was standard travel fare for the leader of one of the world's richest nations. But the jumbo jet that Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah took out of service from the Kuwait Airlines fleet was not for the emir.

The first of more than 1,000 U.S. troops touched down on a wind-swept runway here Friday, preparing to move north into the desert as a new show of allied force against any threats from Iraq. Senior Kuwaiti military commanders greeted the first 350 troops from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, based at Ft. Hood, Tex., as they debarked from a chartered jumbo jet and prepared to pick up tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery positioned at a military camp on the Kuwaiti coast.

After spending a long night worrying about a possible Iraqi retaliatory strike, Kuwait put its armed forces on full alert Thursday and awaited the arrival of 1,300 new U.S. troops. But Kuwaiti officials said they are "quite confident" that Baghdad will not respond militarily to Wednesday's allied raid against Iraq. "I can assure you that Kuwait is well protected, civilians are well protected and the border is well protected," Information Minister Saud al Sabah told reporters.

Rebuffed in its request for a long-term U.S. troop presence inside its borders, Kuwait is prepared to consider an alternative plan to deploy 25,000 or more troops from Egypt, Syria and the six Persian Gulf countries, according to government officials and diplomats in the Kuwaiti capital. Foreign ministers from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council will meet here today to consider proposals for ensuring the future security of the Gulf region.

Kuwait's flag fluttered over its territory for the first time in nearly six months Sunday when Kuwaiti military officers landed on a tiny island captured last week. "I kissed the sand and raised the flag of my homeland," said a Kuwaiti navy captain. "We are the first Kuwaitis to return to our country since Saddam (Hussein) invaded, but soon many more will follow. It is a matter of time before he is forced to leave."

The Bush Administration is planning to start passing the tin cup overseas once again, seeking a new round of financial contributions from foreign governments to help pay for the mounting costs of the U.S. troop deployment in the Persian Gulf, Administration sources said this week.

A U.S. warship, mistaking a commercial Iranian airliner for a warplane, shot the jet down during a naval skirmish in the Persian Gulf on Sunday. Officials in Tehran said that 290 passengers and crew aboard Iran Air Flight 655 were killed. President Reagan said officers aboard the American guided missile cruiser Vincennes, which was battling with several Iranian gunboats, believed the jetliner was an attacking Iranian F-14 fighter and fired two surface-to-air missiles at it at 10:54 a.m.

U.S. Navy helicopters practiced minesweeping maneuvers in the Persian Gulf on Monday as a new convoy of Kuwaiti tankers prepared to leave Kuwait escorted by American warships. The convoy of several U.S. warships and three Kuwaiti tankers, re-registered as American vessels, was assembled off Kuwait's Al Ahmadi oil terminal at the northern end of the gulf, awaiting word from the Navy on when to proceed.

The U.S. naval force in the Persian Gulf is being trimmed again, leaving the fleet with six surface fighting ships, the lowest number since the mid-1987 buildup that began as the Iraq-Iran War escalated. As the missile cruiser Josephus Daniels and three missile frigates left the waterway in recent days, three newly arriving vessels entered to begin their three-month duty tours.