§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, by answering (Official Report, 26th November; col. 799) a request to publish "an up-to-date list of attacks on shipping in the Gulf by (a) Iran and (b) Iraq" with a reference to lists published by "the General Council of British Shipping, Lloyds and other commercial organisations" (which showed, in the case of Lloyds Maritime Information, that since 1981 there had been 131 attacks by Iran and 260 attacks by Iraq) they endorse those figures; and, if not, whether they will give their own figures.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Lord Trefgarne)We do not keep definitive lists of all attacks on foreign merchant shipping. While we cannot therefore confirm the accuracy of the figures quoted by the noble Lord, we believe they are a reasonable assessment of the total number of attacks.