UN envoy says he sees Gulf peace possibility

United Nations special envoy Olof Palme, at the end of his second mission to try to end the Gulf war, said he was convinced that a peace fair to both Iran and Iraq was possible. But neither side has so far shifted from "hard positions" on certain key issues, he added, and he declined to predict when the war would end.

On the battlefronts, the Iraqi news agency reported that Iraqi forces had forced Iranian forces to retreat in the Gilan-e Gharb area of western Iran and ha d shelled vehicles near the southern oil refinery of Abadan.