MOSCOW SAYS WILL RETALIATE AGAINST GULF ATTACKS
  Any Iranian attack on Soviet ships in the
  Gulf will bring a forceful and violent response, a Soviet
  foreign ministry official said in an interview published here.
      Alexander Ivanov, head of the Gulf desk at the Soviet
  Foreign Ministry, told Al-Rai al-Aam newspaper Moscow "will
  answer back with force and violence if Iran attempts to attack
  any Soviet ship or tanker in the Gulf." A Soviet tanker hit a
  mine in the Gulf last month.
      Ivanov also accused the United States of stepping up the
  regional crisis and of failing to exert genuine efforts to end
  the Iran-Iraq war.
  

