The World - News from Jan. 1, 1988

U.S. warships safely completed the first Persian Gulf escort of the Bridgeton since the reflagged Kuwaiti oil tanker was repaired after damage inflicted by a mine, the Pentagon said. A statement said the Bridgeton and the Surf City, another tanker re-registered to fly the American flag, arrived in international waters off Kuwait, completing a 600-mile journey. The Bridgeton struck a mine during the first convoy, causing the United States and its allies to rush minesweeping ships to the gulf. In the Iran-Iraq War, meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they sank two Iraqi vessels in the northern gulf, but Iraq called the claims “baseless lies.”