State Department spokesman Robert Anderson described as “not accurate” today a suggestion that the U.S. was holding up arms supplies to Israel so as not to embarrass Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on his current visit to this country. Anderson also said, in reply to questions, that he was not aware that any instructions had been issued to American Ambassador in the Middle East not to say anything that might embarrass Sadat while he is in the U.S.
Anderson said he had no information with respect to the transit of Israeli cargoes through the Suez Canal when questioned about reports that a ship carrying an Israeli cargo would go through the canal tomorrow. He pointed out, however, that the Israel-Egyptian Sinai accord provided for the transit of Israeli cargoes through the waterway.
On another issue, Anderson said he would check into a report that Secretary of Commerce Rogers Morton had decided to publicize a new ruling that would in effect discontinue the practice of circulating information about American business opportunities in Arab countries that discriminated against American firms but that Morton was asked by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger not to make his decision public while Sadat is in the country. (By Joseph Polakoff)
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