Iran-Iraq Truce Will Start Aug. 20, U.N. Says

Iran and Iraq will begin a cease-fire on Aug. 20 in their 8-year-old Persian Gulf war, Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced today.

The U.N. chief made the announcement to the Security Council, climaxing several days of intense diplomacy that ended a deadlock in nearly two weeks of U.N.-mediated truce talks.

“I am persuaded that both countries are and both governments are interested in a peaceful solution,” Perez de Cuellar said earlier today.

The war has killed or wounded 1 million people since it began in September, 1980.

Perez de Cuellar said it will take about two weeks to deploy the 350 U.N. peacekeeping troops from 24 countries who will monitor the truce along the 730-mile front.

‘Coming to a Close’

In Tehran earlier today, President Ali Khamenei declared that the war is “apparently coming to a close” and said international public opinion had forced Iraq to drop its demand for direct talks before a cease-fire.

But he said in a speech to a gathering of Islamic scholars and specialists in Third World issues that he doubts that Iraq is genuinely interested in peace.

Perez de Cuellar’s cease-fire announcement came as the Security Council met to consider the logistics of setting up the peacekeeping force. A report released today by the secretary general estimated the cost of the force at $74 million for the first six months.

The U.N. peace talks began after Iran reversed itself and announced July 18 that it would accept Security Council Resolution 598. Provisions in the resolution include troop withdrawal to international boundaries and repatriation of prisoners taken in the war.

The cease-fire date announcement came after Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati delivered what amounted to Iran’s formal acceptance of the compromise proposal Saturday by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that a cease-fire be followed rapidly by direct talks on a lasting peace.

String of Iranian Defeats

The U.N. peace talks had faltered over Iraq’s demand for face-to-face talks before a cease-fire.

Before offering the compromise, Iraq said direct talks were needed to test Iran’s intentions. It accepted Resolution 598 last year and said it would not now be stampeded into a cease-fire.

Badly battered by a string of battlefield defeats, Iran had been pressing for an immediate truce. In the last few weeks, Baghdad has launched repeated attacks in which Iran says at least 1,700 of its people were injured by chemical weapons.

Iraq had been urged by many nations to compromise and agree to an early cease-fire and peace settlement. But a major factor, U.N. diplomats said, was the Security Council’s assurance to Iraq last week that its five permanent members would guarantee a peace settlement.

The five--the United States, Britain, China, France and the Soviet Union--promised Iraq that they would insist that Iran not exploit a truce.