AIRCRAFT ATTACK IRANIAN OIL RIGS IN SOUTHERN GULF
  Unidentified jets attacked three Iranian
  oil rigs in the southern Gulf early on Monday, setting at least
  one of them ablaze, regional shipping sources said.
      Earlier today in Washington, U.S. Television networks had
  reported that American forces launched a retaliatory strike
  against Iran late Sunday, attacking two Iranian offshore oil
  drilling platforms and setting them ablaze.
      The shipping sources said Iran's Sassan, Rostam and Rakhsh
  offshore oilfields were attacked at 0700 local (0300 GMT) by a
  wave of jet fighter bombers. Smoke was seen spiralling up from
  the Rostam field soon after.
      At least one of the other two targets was also believed to
  be ablaze, the sources said.
      The Sassan and Rostam fields have been targets for Iraqi
  air strikes in the past, but Baghdad had not reported any
  southern Gulf missions prior to news of the latest attack.
      Shipping and military sources in the region have said Iran
  used its southern Gulf rigs as bases to launch helicopter and
  later speedboat attacks on neutral ships in the waterway.
      U.S. Officials had been meeting on a response since Friday
  when an attack on a Kuwaiti port severely damaged a
  U.S.-flagged ship. President Reagan said on Sunday he had
  already made a decision on the U.S. Response to Friday's Iran
  attack but would not say what the decision was.
  

