Iran claims victory in latest offensive

Iran said its forces hoisted the nation's flag on three key border heights seized in a fresh offensive against Iraq and that its troops captured two frontier posts in the central sector of the Gulf war battlefront.

It said more than 1,200 Iraqi troops had been killed or wounded and over 100 taken prisoner, but gave no details of its own casualties. Iran launched the offensive, the second in a week, early Saturday with the stated aims of driving Iraqi troops out of Iranian territory around the town of Mehran and capturing high ground along the border.