Moscow Calls on U.S. to Pull Warships Out of Gulf

MOSCOW — The Soviet Union called Friday for the withdrawal of U.S. warships from the Persian Gulf to avoid a “serious threat to international peace and security.”

The call, made in a government statement carried by the official news agency Tass, said that several Soviet warships in the gulf would “have to stay” to escort Soviet merchant vessels there.

The statement also said that the Soviet Union wants a prompt end to the Iran-Iraq War in the gulf region, now nearing its seventh anniversary. It called on both belligerents, which have repeatedly attacked gulf shipping in the course of their fighting, to avoid actions that menace international maritime commerce.

The statement repeated accusations that the United States is trying to exploit tensions arising from the war “to achieve its long harbored plans of establishing military-political hegemony” in the gulf region.

Meanwhile, a team of U.S. congressmen Friday toured the Persian Gulf to assess the risks faced by American warships that will begin escorting Kwaiti oil tankers through the waterway later this month, the Associated Press reported from Bahrain.

Reinforced Flotilla

The congressional investigation, which began Thursday, is designed to help Congress decide whether to support President Reagan’s decision to re-register 11 Kuwaiti tankers under the American flag, thus making them eligible for U.S. protection against attack by Iran. America’s six-unit gulf force is being reinforced with three more warships to help provide that protection.

Reagan’s plan has run into resistance following Iraq’s May 17 missile attack on the U.S. frigate Stark, which killed 37 American sailors. Iraq apologized for the attack and said it had mistaken the Stark for an Iranian vessel.

Iran began regular attacks last September on ships bound to and from Kuwait, which supports Iraq in the war. More than 250 ships have been damaged since both sides began attacking commercial vessels in 1984.

In Bahrain, U.S. Embassy and Navy officials refused to give details of the congressional team’s activities, AP reported. Bahraini authorities said the delegation conferred Thursday with the prime minister, Sheik Khalifa ibn Salman al Khalifa.

The delegation of 12 congressmen is led by Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. A key part of the program was a scheduled meeting with Rear Adm. Harold Bernsen, commander of the U.S. Middle East Task Force, whose warships will provide protection to the Kuwaiti tankers.

‘Growth of Tension’

“A dangerous growth of tension is taking place in the Persian Gulf recently,” the Soviet statement continued. “A drastically increased number of warships, including those from states located thousands of kilometers away from this important area, are plying international waters traditionally used for trade and other peaceful carriage.”

Tass said that the Soviet Union, “which is located in direct proximity” to the gulf, favors an immediate halt to the long war between Iran and Iraq. In the meantime, it said, urgent measures are needed to lower tensions.

The statement referred to an effort by the United Nations to obtain a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq and get both to pull their forces back to internationally recognized borders. It said nothing, however, about a visit to Moscow by Vernon A. Walters, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who is now here discussing U.N. peacemaking strategy with Kremlin authorities.

Near Accord on Embargo

For his part, Walters said that both sides are “very close to an agreement” on a cease-fire resolution by the Security Council that would seek to embargo arms sales by the rest of the world to both belligerents if they failed to respect the cease-fire.

Walters told reporters that Secretary of State George P. Shultz plans to sign the resolution at the United Nations in about 10 days and that he hopes the foreign ministers of the four other permanent members of the Security Council--the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China--will attend the same meeting.