The border conflict between Iraq and Iran turned into a full-scale war yesterday after both sides bombed each other’s airbases and clashed repeatedly on the ground and at sea along the 720-mile frontier.

Iraqi jet fighters swept deep into Iran for the second time in less than 12 hours with a night-time bombing run over seven blacked-out Iranian airfields and early-warning radar stations.

Iraq also threatened to extend the war to the strategic Hormuz Straits. Nearly one third of all the oil used in the world passes through the straits from Saudi Arabia and other Middle East producers.

The second Iraqi attack came a few hours after Iran retaliated for the first Iraqi bombing incident by blockading Iraqi ports, declaring its coastal waters “war zones” and launching its own bombers against two Iraqi air bases, including Basra.

By the end of the day, conflicting reports from Baghdad and Tehran claimed that at least 24 Iraqis were killed, 36 Iranians were injured or captured, a Japanese sailor was hurt, four Iraqi missile boats were sunk, 20 Iraqi aircraft were shot down and 11 Iranian planes or helicopters were lost.

The Iraqi news agency said that six Iranian jets were shot down and three Iranian pilots were captured during the night mission, when Iraq’s jets swept hundreds of miles inside Iran to attack five military bases and two early warning radar stations at Dehloran and Naft-é-Shah.

On the political front, the United Nations Secretary-General called for a ceasefire, Ayatollah Khomeini urged the Iraqis to overthrow their president and, in London, gold leaped by $34 an ounce to $711.50, its highest since February.

In Los Angeles President Carter said he hoped the conflict would be resolved peacefully and said the US is not taking a position in support of either country.

He indicated that if Iran returned the hostages at an early date it might be possible to bring the country back into the international community and the US might be willing to supply it with much needed spare parts for its military machine.

A formal declaration of war was expected from Iraq whose forces appeared to have gained the upper hand after MiG fighters attacked 10 civilian and military airports in Iran.

The Mehrabad civilian and military airport outside Tehran, which lies 340 miles from the Iraqi border, was the main target. People in the capital climbed to rooftops to watch a huge pall of smoke rising from the international airport after two Iraqi planes had strafed and bombed the military runway, destroying a Boeing 707 military aircraft, one other plane and houses on a nearby construction site.

All international flights to Tehran and Baghdad were halted and a blackout imposed on both capitals after the air raids.

In Iran the depleted and to some extent demoralised army, estimated at about 150,000 men, were placed on a war-footing and Tehran Radio called for national cooperation in the large scale movement of troops mostly from the distant north-eastern frontier with Afghanistan to the western front with Iraq.

Both sides said that their air attacks had caused heavy damage and casualties. Iraqi air raids were mostly aimed at provincial capitals with military airbases attached to civilian airports.

Among the targets listed in an Iraqi military command statement were Ahwaz, capital of the oil province of Khuzestan, Agha Jari, located in a major though currently disused oilfield, and Dezful, also in the oilfield region. The Gulf port of Bushehr, Kermanshah, an objective farther north, and refineries situated in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan and Tabriz, were also on the Iraqi target list.

Iran, meanwhile, claimed to have attacked two Iraqi air bases, among them one situated close to the port of Basra on the disputed Shatt-al-Arab waterway, and destroyed 10 MiG fighters, one Tupolev fighter and four missile launching boats.

Although neither country has deliberately bombed the respective oil installations along the 60-mile channel or those belonging to both countries in the northern waters of the Gulf, reports reaching Jordan said that the oil terminal and airport near the Iranian Abadan refinery have been extensively shelled.

A military communique broadcast by Tehran Radio said that as a result of the Iraqi attacks, “all waterways near the Iranian shores are declared war zones. Iran will not allow any merchant ship to carry cargo to Iraqi ports.”

The communique ordered shipping in the Gulf to follow prescribed routes and said that Iran would not accept any responsibility for vessels which ignored instructions.

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