U.S., Soviets Resume Mideast Talks After Seven-Year Hiatus

U.S. and Soviet delegates met for five hours today to discuss their differences in the Middle East, resuming a superpower dialogue on the region after a seven-year pause. But the Reagan Administration cautioned against expecting any breakthroughs.

Chief U.S. delegate Richard S. Murphy indicated to reporters that another session will be held Wednesday, apparently at the U.S. Embassy, but he declined to make any substantive comment about the meeting.

Murphy, an assistant secretary of state, emerged from the Soviet Embassy, a former mansion surrounded by an iron-bar fence, at about 2:30 p.m. The Soviet hosts did not come outside.

The Soviet negotiating team is headed by Vladimir P. Polyakov, a ranking official in the Foreign Ministry.

Both sides have imposed a virtual news blackout on the two days of talks, saying any comment will come out of Moscow and Washington.

U.S.-Soviet discussions on the Middle East were broken off in 1977, and a spokesman in Washington said the new talks would be “merely an exchange of views.”