Yet the possibility of an Iraqi strike is high enough to require immediate consultations among the allies on whether, when and how to use force.

But Sunday, he changed his threat and began talking about an Iraqi first strike against on Israel.

Bahrain's Minister of Information, Tariq Almoayed, said this afternoon, before news of the Iraqi strikes, that "whatever happens to one part of it will eventually affect the rest of it.

He also said he feared that an American attack would trigger an Iraqi strike against Israel, including the use of biological weapons.

On June 26, Iran gave the strongest warning yet that deployment of United States military forces to the Persian Gulf would not deter it from attacking shipping in retaliation for Iraqi strikes against Iranian vessels.

After the effort fails, Iraqi strikes resume on May 24.

A prolonged bombing attack on Iraq, a terrorist attack against the West or an Iraqi strike against Israel would most likely bring international travel to a halt.

The plant has been the target of a half-dozen Iraqi strikes in the last four years, including one in November in which 11 people died.

Top military commanders here expressed mystification at the Iraqi strike at Khafji, which they said served no military purpose.

In a comment that reflected the restrained reaction of regional leaders to the Iraqi strike, Mrs. Ciller described it as "not the right approach" to the intensifying rivalry between Kurdish factions in that country.