Reagan decides on Gulf response

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 8

Reagan decides on Gulf response

NZPA-Reuter Washington President Reagan said he has reached a decision on a response to the attack on a United States-flagged tanker in the Gulf amid reports that the United States is considering military action against Iran.

Asked at the White House on Sunday when he would decide on a response to the missile attack on Friday against a United States-flagged Kuwaiti tanker, Mr Reagan replied: “I’ve made it” Earlier Mr Reagan had declined to disclose the decision, saying it would tip-off Iran. The White House said no further statements on the subject would be made until today. Mr Reagan made the comments on his return from a visit to Bethesda Naval Hospital, where his wife Nancy is recuperating from cancer surgery. Mr Reagan has been preoccupied most of the week-end with his wife’s operation, spending much of Saturday and Sunday at her bedside. Meanwhile, “News-

week” magazine reported that the National Security Planning Group agreed on Friday that the United States must respond with military action if diplomatic moves to isolate and punish Iran failed. Mr Reagan told the planning group to model any military response on last year’s reprisal bombing raid against Libya, according to “Newsweek.” Mr Reagan’s top White House aide, the chief of staff, Howard Baker, said the United States was “greatly concerned” about the latest attack on a Gulf tanker and was considering a range of options. “I think the Iranians are clearly at fault. I do not think we provoked the incident,” Mr Baker said in an interview on United States television. The American options ranged from doing

nothing to military attacks on Iranian targets with attack planes or cruise missiles, foreign policy analysts said. Mr Reagan’s decision on a response came as some officials said the administration must retaliate or lose credibility in the Middle East. The Secretary, of State, George Shultz, is touring the area. The United States has no choice but to retaliate, a former United States Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, said on Sunday on a United States television interview "We canmot put the American flag on ships and let a ship then be hit without retaliating,” Mr Kissinger said, adding that the response should be confined to the source of the attack on the Kuwaiti tanker.