Shultz Assails Efforts to Stall Ship Escorting

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Sunday that he strongly opposes congressional efforts to delay U.S. protection for Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, arguing that hesitation “would be a very bad thing to do.”

Shultz said he could not give any estimate of when 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers might begin carrying U.S. flags, except to say that he expected it during the first half of July.

Appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” Shultz was asked if he opposed the move by Democratic lawmakers seeking a delay in the reflagging plan.

“Absolutely,” Shultz responded. “I think it would be a very bad thing to do from the standpoint of the United States, a very bad thing to do.”

‘Betwixt and Between’

The secretary criticized Congress for being “betwixt and between” on the issue. “They can’t make up their minds,” he said.

The 11 Kuwaiti merchant ships that will fly the Stars and Stripes include three battle-scarred veterans of the “tanker war” between Iran and Iraq, Lloyds Maritime Information Services said Sunday in London.

The target of the first Iranian missile attack in the gulf, on May 13, 1984, was the 79,999-ton Kuwaiti tanker Umm Casbah, which was slightly damaged. Now the tanker has been renamed the Ocean City and will have an American skipper and enjoy U.S. Navy protection.

Two others of the 11 reflagged Kuwaiti ships also have suffered hits, Lloyd’s said. They are the 294,739-ton Kazimah, which survived two hits--on June 10, 1984, and on Christmas Day, 1985--and is to be reflagged as the Townsend; and the Al Funtas, a 290,085-ton tanker that caught fire after taking three hits last Sept. 16. The Al Funtas was repaired and now will be named the Middletown.