The World - News from July 17, 1987

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives in Washington today for a one-day visit with President Reagan, and the newly reelected leader will likely hear pleas for Britain to play a larger role in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials said. The meeting occurs as the United States is about to begin a controversial program of providing naval escorts for Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. Thatcher, in turn, hopes to persuade Reagan to support an international peace conference on the Mideast and to work for a summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev before year’s end.