Shultz, Shevardnadze Delay Iran Arms Embargo Effort

Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze agreed Thursday to delay action on an arms embargo against Iran to give diplomats more time to try to persuade the Tehran regime to comply with a cease-fire demanded by the United Nations in its war with Iraq, a senior Administration official said.

After a 90-minute meeting, Shultz and Shevardnadze said that unity among the five permanent members of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council is vital to a diplomatic solution to the seven-year-old war.

In an effort to preserve that unity, the senior official said, Washington agreed not to press its demand for an arms embargo for the time being. The Soviets and the Chinese have indicated that they are reluctant to act on the embargo plan until all efforts to obtain Iran’s voluntary compliance have been exhausted.

The official said that Iran has softened slightly its scornful rejection of the Security Council and the cease-fire demand, although he said the movement is “not far enough.”

As they ended their meeting at the U.S. Mission across the street from U.N. headquarters, Shultz and Shevardnadze used almost identical language in describing their talks.

“We both attach great importance to our ability to work with unity on this important problem,” Shultz said.

“We have an agreement in principle that we should work to preserve the unity of the permanent members of the Security Council and that we should work for the implementation of (Security Council) Resolution 598,” which orders the cease-fire, Shevardnadze said.

Both men said they will continue the discussions today when they attend a lunch given by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar for the foreign ministers of the five permanent-member nations of the Security Council. In addition to Shultz and Shevardnadze, the session will be attended by British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, French Foreign Minister Jean-Bernard Raimond and Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian.

Under U.N. rules, any of the permanent members could veto an embargo resolution.

Shultz agreed to Shevardnadze’s request for more time a few hours after President Reagan had called on Moscow to stop stalling and announce its support for the halt in arms sales.

“We hope that the Soviet Union will cooperate as the council moves to create conditions for such implementation (of the U.N. resolution) by adopting a second resolution (imposing an arms embargo) rather than delaying and seeking opportunities to expand their own influence at the expense of peace in the region,” Reagan said.

The full council voted unanimously July 20 to demand a cease-fire. Iraq immediately said that it would comply. Iran denounced the resolution and the Security Council, although Iranian President Ali Khamenei seemed to keep the door open a crack. At a press conference Wednesday, he said that Tehran would discuss a cease-fire provided the United Nations established a tribunal to fix blame for starting the war and to punish the instigators as war criminals.

The senior official said the United States wants to preserve the chance of a 15-0 vote on an embargo, so it is willing to wait awhile until all council members are ready to go along.

“We still have everybody marching in the same direction,” the official said.

Britain is the only Security Council member that has supported the arms embargo in its policy speech to the U.N. General Assembly, although Raimond indicated at a press conference that France would also support enforcement measures.

West Germany and Italy, both currently members of the council, urged Iran to accept the cease-fire but shied away from endorsing an arms embargo in their policy speeches Thursday.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti said, however, that he hopes “the threat of a coercive measure might bring about the necessary cooperation to resolve the conflict.”

In his speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Shevardnadze called for a U.N. naval force to keep peace in the Persian Gulf, and he endorsed Iran’s demand for a tribunal to determine the responsibility for the war. Shevardnadze’s spokesman, Gennady I. Gerasimov, said that Moscow ultimately might go along with an embargo but that it wants to try other options first.