U.S. TO PROTECT ONLY AMERICAN SHIPS
U.S. military forces in the Mideast
Gulf are under orders to protect only American flag vessels and
occasional U.S. arms deliveries on other ships to
"non-belligerent" states in the area, the Pentagon said today.
    "No one has ever stated or supported a policy of protecting
all shipping in those waters," Pentagon spokesman Bob Sims said
as the Reagan Administration drew up plans to increase the
protective U.S. military presence in the gulf.
    Sims denied published reports that U.S. Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger sought air cover to protect all neutral
shipping in the western gulf from attacks by Iran and Iraq.
    "As we have said repeatedly, only American flag vessels are
under our protection with the exception, on a limited
case-by-case basis, of ships carrying our Foreign Military
Sales equipment to friendly, non-belligerent states in the
region," Sims said.
    U.S. warships in the gulf two weeks ago protected a Kuwaiti
ship which sailed to Bahrain with U.S. arms for Bahrain and
Kuwait. But Sims said Washington had received assurances that
the the arms would not be used elsewhere.
    He said Kuwait, which is turning 11 oil tankers over to
U.S. firms to fly the American flag and be protected by the
U.S. warships, is not considered a belligerent despite Iranian
charges that Kuwait is supporting Iraq in the gulf war.
    Kuwaiti tankers have come under repeated Iranian attack.
    Sims refused to say how the United States will beef up its
seven-ship Middle East Task Force in the gulf to protect the 11
Kuaiti tankers. But Pentagon officials said that additional
ships and air cover are under consideration.
 Reuter
