The decision by the Reagan Administration to defer any new arms sales to the Middle East until it studies their effect on United States’ strategic concerns in the area is neither an arms embargo nor a change in policy, the State Department said.
“We are taking a comprehensive look at security-related issues in the area,” the Department’s deputy spokesman, Edwin Djerejian, said. “But we do not anticipate any fundamental changes in our policy or commitment in the area.”
While Djerejian said that “we do not intend to initiate the sale of major new systems,” he stressed that on-going programs already committed to Arab states will not be affected.
He denied reports that the decision might cause King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to cancel his scheduled visit to Washington February II. The study has enabled the Administration to hold off a clash with Congress over Saudi Arabia’s request for F-15 jet fighters and other weapons.
But Secretary of State George Shultz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Thursday that the United States will sell arms to the Saudis and other Arab countries, although he could not predict what type of weapons would be recommended once the study is completed.
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