Sisco: No ‘categorical Assurance’ That Saudi Arabia Will Not Transfer Phantom Jets to Third Party

Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco said yesterday that the U.S. decision to sell Phantom jets to Saudi Arabia took “fully into account” the fact that “nobody” in the government can give “categorical assurance” that the Saudians will not transfer them to a third country for use against Israel.

Sisco, the State Department’s top specialist on the Middle East, appearing before the Near East Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee which is conducting hearings on the Nixon Administration’s foreign military sales program, said, however, that “One can have reasonable confidence” that the Saudian authorities would not make such transfers. He said the confidence was based on the friendship and deepening relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and on the provisions of the sales agreement which bar transfer of the aircraft without U.S. approval.

Sisco agreed that it would be “embarrassing” if Saudi Arabia would transfer its Phantoms but denied the power balance would be broken. “The U.S. has no interest in doing anything to upset the balance of power or the security of Israel,” he told the subcommittee. “We have a national interest to support Israel and a national interest to deepen our friendship for Arab countries.”

According to reports, Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy up to $1 billion worth of U.S. military equipment, and Kuwait is seeking half that amount Sisco said the government was prepared to sell the Phantoms to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of helping it offset threats from what he described as Soviet supported regimes on or near the Saudian borders.

Secretary of State William P. Rogers, who testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, confirmed that the Administration has decided to sell 24-30 Phantoms to Saudi Arabia but has not yet reached a decision on Kuwait’s request to buy Phantoms. According to Rogers, the American arms sales to the two Persian Gulf Arab countries “are intended to maintain the stability and military balance” essential to promoting “a meaningful Arab-Israeli negotiating process.” Rogers stressed that the arms sales to the two Arab countries did not change the traditional U.S. policy of support for Israel.

NOT A REACTION TO OIL SITUATION

In his testimony, Sisco indicated he would make statistics available to the subcommittee in closed session. He pointed out that the U.S. offer to sell Phantoms to Saudi Arabia has not yet elicited a response from that country. Kuwait’s request for Phantoms, he said, is under “active consideration” by the U.S.

The U.S. arms program for Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Sisco emphasized, is “oriented towards their security in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula and not towards the area of Arab-Israeli conflict. He spoke of Soviet war supplies including MIG aircraft, in Iraq, South Yemen and Aden, whose regimes he said were backed by the Soviet government and of Iran’s long border with the Soviet Union.

Describing Iran and Saudi Arabia as “voices of moderation” in the area, Sisco denied that the oil situation inspired the program. “This is not a knee-jerk reaction to the so-called energy crisis,” he said.

The program for Iran, he said, has been in being for 20 years and with the other two countries for more than a year. He conceded, however, that the U.S. wants to strengthen Kuwait to discourage pressures from Iraq and to protect “our interest” in Kuwait and enable it to continue being a major oil supplier.