The Reagan Administration has removed Iraq from the countries it lists as a “supporter of international terrorism” and replaced it with Cuba. The other three countries on the list, required by the Export Administration Act of 1979, remain the same-Syria, Libya and South Yemen.
The State Department said that it and the Department of Commerce, in making their annual review of which countries “repeatedly provide support for international terrorism,” found that Iraq’s record in 1981 “did not warrant its continued inclusion on the list.”
However, the Department stressed that Iraq’s removal from the list does not mean the U.S. plans to sell arms to that country. “We have no plans to establish a military supply relationship with Iraq,” the Department said. “It has been our policy since the beginning of the Iraq-Iran conflict not to supply military equipment to either side.”
The Department added that it is continuing to block the sale of General Electric engines for Iraq’s Italian built frigates since this could contribute to Iraq’s “war-making potential.”
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