The World : Iranians, Kuwaitis Clash

Three Iranian patrol boats exchanged gunfire with Kuwaiti military personnel guarding an island near the Iran-Iraq War front. Two Kuwaitis were wounded in what apparently was the first direct military encounter between Kuwaiti and Iranian military forces. An Iranian spokesman in Tehran denied that any clash occurred, but Kuwait’s Defense Ministry reported that its forces on Bubiyan Island, a strategically located land wedge on Iraq’s southern flank, came under attack and returned fire. Kuwait said it reserved the right to retaliate, but there was no retaliation against earlier Silkworm missile attacks by Iran.