Shevardnadze Calls for a U.N. Patrol in Gulf : Naval Units Would Replace Western Warships; U.S. Rejects Idea, Sees Soviet Bid to Be ‘Player’

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze called Wednesday for creation of a United Nations naval force that would ensure free navigation through the war-torn Persian Gulf and replace the U.S. and European warships that have been sent there in recent months.

But a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States has rejected similar Soviet proposals in the past.

“It is simply a Soviet attempt to become a major player in the gulf itself, and they’re not,” he said. “Our attitude is, ‘No, thank you very much.’ We do have friends and allies who do have vital concerns in the gulf, and we’ll take care of the policeman’s role. That’s not to say we don’t want international cooperation.”

Backs Iran Demand

Shevardnadze, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly, also endorsed Iran’s demand for an independent tribunal to fix the blame for the start of the seven-year war between Iran and Iraq. Iranian President Ali Khamenei, also in New York for the U.N. session, said earlier in the day that such a tribunal could lead to his government’s acceptance of a cease-fire.

A Soviet spokesman said later that Shevardnadze’s suggestions were intended to stop the fighting without requiring the U.N. Security Council to act on a U.S.-advocated resolution imposing an arms embargo against Iran in response to that country’s refusal to accept the council’s July 20 cease-fire order.

The White House official said that the Administration remained committed to winning approval of an arms embargo against Iran.

Britain issued a strong statement of support for an arms embargo Friday and also closed an Iranian weapons-purchasing office in London. France and China, meanwhile, issued new calls for adherence to the Security Council’s cease-fire order, and France made clear that it is prepared to support an embargo.

The positions of the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China will be crucial if the Security Council votes on an arms embargo because--as the five permanent members of the 15-nation council--they have veto power.

And in Washington, President Reagan, facing an uncertain response in Congress to the U.S. helicopter attack Monday on an Iranian mine-laying ship, said it would be a “great mistake” for the House and Senate to limit the deployment of U.S. ships in the tense waterway.

In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans continued to work toward a bipartisan compromise that would avert a showdown between Reagan and Congress over his refusal to invoke the controversial War Powers Resolution. A vote on the issue, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was put off until today.

The 1973 resolution requires the President to notify Congress when U.S. forces are assigned to a mission in which they face “imminent hostilities.” The President then must end the operation within 90 days unless Congress authorizes it. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that the Administration is following the spirit of the resolution by providing Congress with extensive briefings.

According to sources, the bipartisan compromise would simply require Reagan to report to Congress on the Persian Gulf situation without mentioning the War Powers Resolution. Details of the plan were still being worked out in negotiations between leaders of the two parties.

Sen. Lowell P. Weicker (R-Conn.), author of a measure calling on Reagan to invoke the War Powers Resolution in the Persian Gulf, condemned the efforts of both Republicans and Democrats to come up with a less stringent solution.

“Congress doesn’t have the guts to fulfill its duty under the War Powers Act,” he said.

Shevardnadze, urging that a U.N. peacekeeping force replace the Western warships now in the gulf, told the U.N. General Assembly:

“The safety of navigation in the gulf can and must be ensured by the entire world community, in whose behalf the United Nations will be acting. If necessary, appropriate and sufficient forces should be made effectively available to it. . . . This would also make it possible to painlessly withdraw foreign naval forces from the Persian Gulf.”

Besides the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands have warships in the gulf region or en route there. The Soviet Union, too, has warships on escort duty in the gulf.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said later that the details of the proposed gulf force still “must be worked out.”

“If you have a United Nations force, it is international, so there will be no danger of enlarging the conflict,” Gerasimov said.

Gerasimov said that the Soviet Union ultimately might agree to support an arms embargo against Iran, but he made it clear that Moscow wants to try other options first.

In an attempt to placate Iran, Shevardnadze said that a cease-fire should coincide with the appointment of “an impartial body to investigate the question of responsibility for the conflict.” Iran maintains that Iraq should be punished for starting the war by invading Iran on Sept. 22, 1980.

At a press conference, French Foreign Minister Jean-Bernard Raimond also endorsed creation of a commission to fix responsibility, although he said that a cease-fire should come first. He added that France favors rapid action to impose the embargo.

Khamenei, who scornfully rejected the Security Council’s cease-fire order in a speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, said Wednesday that Iran might reconsider if the United Nations establishes a tribunal to punish Iraqi war crimes.

“We have not closed the door to negotiations,” he said. “We have not rejected Resolution 598. But the principal issue is the punishment of the aggressor.”

Attack on Tanker

British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, speaking from the same podium as Shevardnadze, backed up his call for an international arms embargo against Iran by referring to the Iranian attack on the British-flag tanker Gentle Breeze on Monday and the mine-laying operation interrupted by the U.S. attack.

Howe also said the attack on the Gentle Breeze was “the last straw” and announced that his government has ordered the closure of Iran’s arms procurement office in London in retaliation. A Foreign Office spokesman said between 30 and 50 of the office’s staff members are being expelled and will leave the country by Oct. 8. An analyst of Middle Eastern affairs, based in London, said the Iranian government has used the office for major purchases of combat aircraft, artillery and explosives but now will probably simply switch its buying operations elsewhere.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian, calling for implementation of the cease-fire, also called on major nations to “stop their military involvement in the gulf so as to avoid escalation of the conflict.”

Denials by Chinese

The Chinese have denied the assertion of the Reagan Administration that they are one of Iran’s military suppliers and that they have sent Silkworm anti-ship missiles to Iran.

“After Iran’s deeds and words this week, can anyone still believe that she intends to comply with the resolution?” Wu asked. “Monday’s two unprovoked attacks, with missile and mine, show Iran’s true intentions. So do the words of her president on this rostrum yesterday.”

Khamenei said that Iran would not be hurt badly by an embargo because it “produces much of what we need at home for war purposes.” Besides, he said, Iran captures military equipment from Iraq and could obtain the rest of what it needs from illicit arms merchants who would defy the embargo.

At his press conference Wednesday in the opulent Starlight room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Khamenei also renewed his threat of Iranian retaliation for the U.S. attack Monday on the mine-laying ship, the Iran Ajr. He conceded that the American authorities have photographs of mines on the ship’s deck, but he suggested that they were planted there.

A Personal Attack

Khamenei directed a personal attack at Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, who he said appeared to be pleased with the outcome of the U.S. attack on the Iran Ajr, in which five Iranian crewmen were believed killed, according to Pentagon officials.

“I have seen photographs of Mr. Weinberger before,” Khamenei said. “He usually looked rather bad-tempered and frowned. Today when I watched television, I noticed that for the first time there was some sort of smile on his lips. But even this smile was very bitter to me. It looked like the smile on the face of a skeleton. It smelled of death.”

As a result of Khamenei’s threats of retaliation in his U.N. speech Tuesday, U.S. embassies already have been placed on a stepped-up alert to guard against terrorist attacks, Fitzwater said.

Times staff writers Sara Fritz and Don Shannon also contributed to this story.