Soviet Official Calls for Meeting of Generals to Seek Gulf Peace

Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir F. Petrovsky today called on other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to convene a meeting of military chiefs to hammer out a compromise to end the Iran-Iraq War.

At an international news briefing, Petrovsky said the Soviet Union will put forward a proposal for a meeting of military chiefs of staff from the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China.

The military conference could work on a compromise solution favored by the Kremlin that would invoke sanctions against Iran for ignoring a cease-fire resolution and at the same time replace foreign warships with a U.N. naval task force.

Soviet diplomats have been advancing the idea of coordinated actions during recent meetings with Arab officials in the war-torn gulf region.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in July calling for a cease-fire in the 7-year-old war between Iran and Iraq. Iran has refused to halt the fighting until Iraq is condemned as the aggressor and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is punished as a war criminal.

The United States has tried to impose sanctions on Iran for ignoring the cease-fire, but the Soviet Union has thus far refused to support the sanctions.