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wednesday, July 6, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Reagan sends regrets to Iran
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Reagan, in a careful diplomatic overture following the U.S. downing of an Iranian jetliner, urged Teheran to work with the United States to end the Persian Gulf war despite the icy distance between the two nations.
Reagan's message, sent Sunday through Swiss intermediaries, expressed "deep regret" that a U.S. warship earlier that day had shot six people off the coast over the gulf. All 290 people aboard are believed to have been killed.
"It was not an intentional act," Reagan said in the message, which was made available at White House and the State Department yesterday.
But even while the president called the downing of the plane an accident, U.S. officials delayed a decision on paying compensation to the victims of the disaster, at least until a Navy team completes an on-the-scene investigation in about two weeks.
Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that the inquiry was the first order of business of the administration. A senior State Department official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said that neither Iran nor the families of the victims had made any claims.
At the Pentagon, meanwhile, chief spokesman Dan Howard said the Iranian airliner had been broadcasting a radio identification signal on a frequency used only by military aircraft, leading the skipper of the Vincennes to believe he faced attack.
Iranian jet's failure to respond may be fault of transponders
The Associated Press
TOULOUSE, France — The Airbus passenger jet shot down by a Air工. warship was delivered to Iran A six years ago with two transponders aboard that should have responded to identification requests from the cruiser, an Airbus spokesman said yesterday.
U. S. military officials have said that the A300 jet failed to respond to electronic identification requests and voice warnings from the U.S. cruiser Vincemes to change course. The plane, mistake for an F-14 fighter jet, was shot down Sunday.
Electronic identification signals are received by transponders, standard equipment on Airbus planes, said spokesman David Vel-
He said that the make of transponders on Airbus planes was up to the individual customer and he did not know the manufacturer of the transponders on the IranAir jet.
upillai.
all transponders, regardless of make, work to international standards on a system called Secondary Surveillance Radar. A civil ground station sends a pulse which the plane automatically responds to with data on the height of the aircraft, its bearing and the identification code of the plane, if the pilot has dialed in a code given by the air traffic controller.
Velupilaila did not know if the original transponders delivered with the plane had been changed or how many transponders, if any, had been on board.
The Pentagon sent a six-member investigating team to the warship yesterday to sort through conflicting computer records, including a determination by another U.S. ship in the gulf that the jetliner was flying above 12,000 feet rather than at 7,000 feet when it was shot down.
Lawyers at the Defense and State departments were researching U.S. statutes before making their recommendations to Reagan on compensation.
The president would make the decision in tandem with Congress because of the "implications" and the fact that any compensation would be so substantial that Congress would have to provide the money, the State Department official said.
"Obviously, questions remain and we are going to get an answer to those question before we discuss reparations," said Phillis Oakley, a
State Department spokesman.
The most relevant law is one that provides for compensation in combat-related situations. It empowers the Pentagon to settle claims for such losses. The Iranian jetliner was shot down over waters patrolled by U.S. warships protecting tankers carrying oil to Europe and Japan.
While the commanders have orders to fire if attacked, and have done so in the past, the United States is not at war with Iran.
The call for compensation came loudest from Capitol Hill, led by House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas. and Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Reagan's message to Teheran preceded an outpouring of dismay and some outrage from friends and foes around the world. Several governments suggested the disaster was an unfortunate consequence of the 8-year-old war in the gulf.
Radio Moscow condemned the U.S. attack as "deliberate mass murder in cold blood." President Mohammad Miza Al-Haq of Pakistan, a U.S. ally, called the incident "both highly regrettable and reprehensible."
Iran's ambassador to West Germany, Mehdi Alhary Mostafai, said in Bonn. "We will not let this act go unanswered. We will give a direct and clear response."
Oakley said that the presidential message expressed their deep regret over the loss of life and relayed the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
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