Sadat: Arabs would blow up oil wells

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33739, 11 January 1975, Page 13

Sadat: Arabs would blow up oil wells

<y Z. frees Assn—Copyright) BEIRUT, January 10.

President Anwar Sadat of Egypt said today the Arab States would blow up their rich oil fields before allowing invading U.S. forces to capture them, United Press International reported.

He also warned that the Middle East was a “ticking bomb which could explode at any moment’’ by accident or design.

President Sadat’s remarks came a week after the United States Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) said that he would not rule out the use of force against the oil nations in the event of “some actual strangulation of the industrialised world.” President Sadat said in an interview’ with the news-; paper, “Al Anwar” that the Arab nations “would prefer to blow up these w’ells before allowing them (the United States) to get their hands on them—if they ever thought of doing that.

The United States has announced it had approved a SUS7OOm deal to provide Saudi Arabia with several squadrons of F-5 fighter jets and aircraft spares. As part of the deal, the United States will also train Saudi pilots and technicians.

The State Department spokesman, Mr Robert Anderson, said that the sale had been approved in view of the continuing United States military relationship with Saudi Arabia and that country’s defence needs. Mr Anderson said United States policy was not to disclose the number of planes in the deal, but sources here said the number was fewer than 100.

Mr Anderson said the United States view was that the sale would contribute to stability in the Persian Gulf region as well as the entire Middle East.

Mr Anderson said that the aircraft sale contained a standard third country clause w’hich prohibits Saudi Arabia■ from turning the jets over I to any other nation without! prior United States Government approval. The announcement of the; sale follows by a day the! confirmation by the State Department that it had approved the transfer of other F-5s from Iran to Jordan. That transfer, the department spokesman said, was also for what he called the legitimate defence purposes of Jordan. About 25 jets were involved in the Iran-Jordan transfer. State Department officials, said that thev had no fear! that the Saudi sale would contribute to an arms race; in the area, although Irani makinc heavy pur-l

State Department officials; said that thev had no fear! that the Saudi sale would contribute to an arms race; in the area, although Irani has been making heavy pur-l

i chases of United States air- | craft and other military equipment in recent years. Both Iran and Saudi • Arabia are believed to be seeking pre-emminence in the Gulf area after the withdrawal of British forces from the region. The officials said that the United States judgment was that the military build-up by Saudi Arabia and Iran did not constitute an arms race because each wgs not arming because of the other but for their own different needs. An Arab conference in Cairo next month will decide if some international companies can be removed from its blacklist, Mr Mohammed Mahgoeub, commissionergeneral of the Arab Boycott of Israel Offices, said today. He said the British Leyland Motor Company had submitted documents claiming it had ceased to co-operate with Israel. These documents were insufficient and the company had promised to supply more before the conference began, he added.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mr Ismail Fahmy) was quoted here today as saying that Egypt would not re-open the Suez Canal until it was convinced the waterway was safe for intematioal shipping. In an interview with the Lebanese weekly magazine “Al-Hawadess,” he hinted that Egypt’s first priority was to secure a further Israeli withdrawal in occupied Sinai, away from the canal.

The Israeli Foreign Minister (Mr Yigal Alien) flew to the United States for fresh Middle East discussions while Israel waited for a sign from Egypt that it was ready to

move towards a new agreement on the Sinai front. Mr Alton said that the time was ripe for fresh discussions with Washington after the postponement of a visit to Egypt by the Soviet Party leader (Mr Leonid Brezhnev). Speaking in he Knesset (Parliament) yesterday, Mr Alton dismissed reports that Israel was now prepared to pull back some 30 miles (50km) to a line from Nahal Yam on the Mediterranean to Abu Nezima on the Gulf of Suez.

The Prime Minister (Mr Yitzhak Rabin) told the French newspaper, “Le Figaro,” this week that for a true settlement with Egypt, Israel was prepared to give back "most of Sinai,” including the Abu Rodeis oilfields and the Mitla and Giddi passes. Mr Rabin was seen as talking in strategic terms —of the position at the end of a tong process of negotiation. Mr Alton was clearly discussing tactical positions at this moment.