U.S. May Call for a Nuclear-Free Mideast : Weapons: Baker offers Soviets qualified support for such a zone, if Iraq ends Kuwait occupation.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III gave tentative and qualified support Tuesday to a proposal by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East if Iraq agrees to end its occupation of Kuwait.

Talking to a joint press conference, Baker and Shevardnadze agreed that once the Persian Gulf crisis ends, the superpowers should play a role in a regional arms-control effort that could prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons and require Israel to destroy its existing arsenal of nuclear arms.

The proposal seems designed to appeal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who has long maintained that his country would agree to arms limitations provided that Israel was subjected to the same curbs.

Israel, which would be unlikely to agree to such a proposal under any conditions, can be expected to be extremely wary of the idea now because of concern that Jerusalem might somehow be required to make concessions in exchange for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait.

Baker and Shevardnadze completed two days of meetings in Baker’s hometown and flew to Washington, where Shevardnadze will confer today with President Bush at the White House. In the joint news conference, Baker and Shevardnadze covered a wide range of issues:

* Both men said they had made progress on resolving a few remaining disagreements on the text of a treaty reducing by more than one-third the superpower arsenals of long-range nuclear weapons, but they were unable to reach final agreement. As a result, they said, no date has yet been set for a summit between Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to sign the pact.

* Shevardnadze said the Soviet Union will not send even a token contingent of its own troops to the Persian Gulf. Stressing that a peaceful settlement of the crisis is possible, he added, “It is also my strong hope that U.S. troops won’t see action either.”

* Baker and Shevardnadze issued a joint statement calling for a cease-fire in Angola’s long and bitter civil war. In a reversal of the previous Cold War rivalry, they announced that today in Washington, Shevardnadze will confer with Jonas Savimbi, president of the U.S.-backed UNITA rebel organization, while Baker will confer with Foreign Minister Pedro Van Dunem of the Soviet-supported government in Luanda.

* Shevardnadze said the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to end arms supplies to rival factions in Afghanistan in an effort to end the civil war there. But he said no agreement was reached on the timing of the cutoff.

* Baker said the United States and Iraq have not yet agreed on a date for his proposed visit to Baghdad. Shevardnadze endorsed the U.S. position that the visit should be no later than Jan. 3 because “it is our view that the sooner contacts are realized between the United States Administration and the Iraqi leadership, the better.” Iraq has proposed a Jan. 12 date.

* Baker and Shevardnadze exchanged documents indicating that two long-stalled treaties limiting nuclear explosions have been ratified by Congress and the Supreme Soviet. The Threshold Test Ban Treaty, negotiated in 1974, and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty, negotiated in 1976, had been held up until they were signed by Bush and Gorbachev earlier this year.

Shevardnadze suggested a nuclear-free zone covering all of the Middle East when he was asked if he supports a U.S. proposal to maintain economic sanctions against Baghdad, even if Hussein peacefully ends his occupation of Kuwait, to prevent Iraq from developing nuclear weapons and again bullying its neighbors.

“If Iraq withdraws from Kuwait on its own initiative and if it complies with all (U.N.) Security Council resolutions, then what we would have on our agenda as a next item would be . . . a nuclear-free and chemical-weapons-free zone in the Middle East,” Shevardnadze said.

He said the restrictions must apply to all countries in the region, including Israel.

Baker carefully avoided using the words “nuclear-free zone.” But he said he agreed with Shevardnadze that the world should address the Middle East arms race as soon as the gulf crisis has been resolved.