Would Remove Warheads on Pershings: U.S.

The United States said today it would withdraw the warheads it controls on 72 West German Pershing-1A missiles once Bonn scrapped the launchers.

But State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said there would be no negotiations on the subject with Moscow, which has insisted that the missiles be included in a superpower pact under negotiation in Geneva to eliminate all medium-range missiles.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in a bid to remove what Moscow calls the major barrier to an agreement, said West Germany would scrap the Pershings if U.S. and Soviet medium-range missiles were destroyed.

“If the conditions laid out by Chancellor Kohl in his Aug. 26 statement are met and the Federal Republic of West Germany retires the 72 Pershing-1A’s, we would, of course, withdraw the warheads,” Oakley said.

Moscow had complained that Kohl’s offer had not addressed the question of the warheads. Oakley said neither the missiles nor the warheads were any of Moscow’s business.

“They are part of a program of cooperation with our West German allies and therefore are not subject to any form of negotiations with the Soviet Union,” she said.