Administration Suspends New Arms Sales to Mideast

The Reagan Administration has suspended all new arms sales to the Middle East pending a comprehensive review of defense needs of Israel and moderate Arab nations, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said today.

Speakes said the review, which is expected to be completed in four to six weeks, will not halt shipments of spare parts and weapons already destined for the region.

But he said the Administration will not send any arms sales requests to Congress while the review is under way.

The Administration’s action coincides with the start of a sweeping six-week review of U.S. foreign policy by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Speakes said the study is aimed at providing Congress with a comprehensive “justification and rationale” for Administration proposals in the Middle East.

The review does not preclude discussions of arms sales to Saudi Arabia or Egypt, Speakes said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is slated to visit Reagan in mid-March.

He said the study was geared toward addressing “the legitimate defense needs of our friends in the region and how that fits into our goals in the peace process.”

Speakes said it is a “good time”’ for the review because of the renewed Israeli-Egyptian talks, the Israeli withdrawal in southern Lebanon and what he described as a renewed interest in the peace process expressed by Jordan’s King Hussein.