KUWAIT SEEN WANTING TO LEASE SOME U.S. TANKERS
The United States said Kuwait was
discussing plans to lease privately-owned U.S. tankers to
transport oil through the Gulf in addition to putting some of
its own vessels under American flags.
    State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley, who made the
disclosure about the tankers, also told reporters the United
States expects to conclude very soon a favorable arrangement
with Saudi Arabia concerning expanded security cooperation in
the Gulf. The two developments occur as the Reagan
administration continued to come under fire in Congress for its
plans to bring 11 Kuwaiti tankers under American flags.
    The move is designed to protect the tankers from Iranian
attacks and ensure freedom of navigation in the strategic
waterway but has raised fears on Capitol Hill that it will draw
the United States into the seven-year-old Iran-Iraq War.
    "The Kuwaitis have discussed the possibility of chartering
U.S. flag vessels with the Maritime Administration," Oakley
said. She emphasized, however, that "if some charter arrangement
could be worked out, it would not supplant the reflagging
arrangement that we worked out with the Kuwaitis."
    In both cases, the ships would be eligible for U.S. Navy
escort in the Gulf, she said.

   The Washington Post today quoted John Gaughan, administrator
of the Martime Administration, as saying Kuwait has approached
an American shipping company about the possibility of a
charter.
    Gaughan said that earlier this week he told representatives
of the company, whose identify he did not know, that chartered
vessels flying the U.S. flag "would be protected," the newspaper
reported.
    Concerning Saudi Arabia, Oakley said "we are moving forward
in our talks ... on how we can tailor our efforts and security
cooperation to facilitate our Gulf operations."
 Reuter
