The World - News from Oct. 6, 1988

Iran has agreed to stop searching ships in international waters of the Persian Gulf that it suspects of carrying war cargo to Iraq, sources at the United Nations said. The sources also said that Iraq has agreed to postpone discussing ownership of the disputed Shatt al Arab waterway, Iraq’s only outlet to the gulf. Breakthroughs on these two issues could help end the stalemate in the Iran-Iraq peace talks, which began Aug. 25 in Geneva. The sources said that U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar proposed the compromises in talks with the foreign ministers of Iran and Iraq. The talks are to resume in Geneva later this month.