No Confirmation That Us, USSR in Accord to Limit Mideast Arms

State Department spokesman Charles Bray said today he was “flatly unaware” of any “understanding” between the United States and the Soviet Union to withhold arms supplies to, respectively, Israel and Egypt. Bray was questioned on reports that Soviet supplies to Egypt had decreased over the past three months while the US continued to defer Phantom jet shipments to Israel. The spokesman would not confirm the reports on decreasing Soviet arms aid to Egypt. He said American consideration of the Middle East military balance “is proceeding.” On reports that American-Israeli relations are nearing a confrontation point over the Phantom issue, Bray commented: “I don’t think that characterization is accurate as we see it.”