IRAN WARNS U.S. NOT TO INTERVENE IN THE GULF The speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Hojatoleslam Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, warned the U.S. Not to intervene in the Gulf, a day after Washington said its warships were available to escort Kuwaiti tankers through the waterway. "If U.S. Intervention occurs, the entire world will become insecure for the Americans and the events of Lebanon could be repeated for the Americans everywhere," he said. U.S. Defence officials disclosed in Washington yesterday that the U.S. Navy, which has about 24 warships in or near the Gulf, was prepared to escort Kuwaiti tankers, regular targets for Iranian attacks in an offshoot of its war with Iraq. Rafsanjani, in an interview reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA, also commented on earlier U.S. Disclosures that Iran had erected sites for new Chinese-made Silkworm anti-shipping missiles at the Strait of Hormuz. The agency, received in London, quoted him as saying that Iran did not need missiles to close the strait, 24 miles wide at its narrowest, because "we can close it with artillery only." He added "We have the longest coasts and the highest interest here and the small southern (Gulf) states have a lesser interest compared with us and therefore it is natural for us to protect the security of the Strait of Hormuz more than others."