Weinberger Calls on NATO for Help in Gulf
U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger called on America’s NATO allies Tuesday to offer more help in trying to keep open the oil-shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf.
Weinberger told U.S. reporters during a NATO ministerial meeting that he discussed with other defense ministers the threat to Western oil supplies posed by the Iran-Iraq War and appealed for allied help in policing the gulf.
“We solicited any assistance we can get--obviously after consultations with their governments,” he said. “I think it is important at home to see there are friends that are helping us in this direction.”
Weinberger said he has received no pledges of support from any of the 14 other North Atlantic Treaty Organization members represented in closed-door talks at alliance headquarters, but he said the United States will keep pressing the issue.
Weinberger later told reporters that the U.S. request for additional Western support in the gulf would be followed up in bilateral contacts.
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