An armed French Navy helicopter aboard t

An armed French Navy helicopter aboard the French warship Dupleix takes off as the warship escorts 3 French flagged tankers out of the Gulf December 26, 1987, off the coast of Dubaï. On December 24, 1987, a U.S. Navy helicopter was shot at by Iranian speed-boats. No one was injured and the helicopter did not return fire. The Tanker War started properly in 1984 when Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the vital oil terminal at Kharg island. Iran struck back by attacking tankers carrying Iraqi oil from Kuwait and then any tanker of the Gulf states supporting Iraq. The air and small boat attacks did very little to damage the economies of either country and the price of oil was never seriously affected as Iran just moved it's shipping port to Larak Island in the straights of Hormuz. AFP PHOTO NORBERT SCHILLER (Photo credit should read NORBERT SCHILLER/AFP via Getty Images)