	iran says it intends no threat to gulf ping iran said reports that it intended to threaten ping in the gulf were baseless and warned the u s and other countries not to interfere in the region tehran radio monitored by the bbc quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying any attempt at interference would be met by a strong response from iran and other moslems in the world u s defence secretary caspar weinberger in remarks apparently unrelated to the broadcast said the u s would do whatever was necessary to keep ping lanes open in the face of new iranian anti  missiles in the gulf the u s state department said two days ago tehran had been told of u s concern that iranian anti  missiles posed a threat to the free flow of oil from the gulf u s officials have said iran has new chinese made anti  silkworm missiles which pose a greater threat to merchant s than missiles used before the iranian spokesman said the reports that iran intended to attack s were misleading propaganda he said iraq s president saddam hussein was the main cause of tension in the gulf and said iran would continue to use all its legitimate means to stem the cause of tension weinberger said in a television interview in the u s we are fully prepared to do what s necessary to keep the ping going and keep the freedom of navigation available in that very vital waterway we aren t going into any disclosures or discussions of what might happen but we are certainly very sympathetic to and listening carefully to any suggestions for our assistance in keeping navigation free in that area he said weinberger said u s war movements in the gulf area were not unusual a u s navy battle group led by the aircraft carrier kitty hawk is currently in the northern arabian sea the iranian spokesman was quoted by tehran radio as saying the u s was trying to build up its military presence in the region reuter 
