Shultz, Shevardnadze Meet, Call for Unity

UNITED NATIONS--Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minster Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday agreed that unity can help secure a cease-fire between warring Iran and Iraq, but said nothing about a U.S.-proposed arms embargo against Iran.

The United States had asked for the meeting with Shevardnadze after the Soviets did not publicly endorse the embargo.

Shultz said they decided he would visit Moscow Oct. 22-23 to set a date for the summit at which President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will sign a pact eliminating the superpowers' shorter-and medium-range nuclear missiles.

Both Shultz and Shevardnadze called their discussion on the Iran-Iraq war constructive and stressed the importance of unity on a United Nations Security Council peace plan.

"We have agreement in principle that we should work to preserve unity among the permanent members of the Security Council," Shevardnadze told reporters as he left the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

The council's resolution demands that Iran and Iraq observe a cease-fire and withdraw to internationally recognized boundaries as the first step toward peace.

"Foreign Minister Shevardnadze and I have had a very constructive, worthwhile discussion of the Iran-Iraq war," Shultz said after meeting with his Soviet counterpart for more than an hour.

"We agreed on the importance of Resolution 598 and its full implementation. And we both attach great importance to our evident ability to work with unity on this very important problem."

In a briefing after the Shultz-Shevardnadze meeting, State Department spokesman Charles Redman refused to say whether the divisive issue of an arms embargo was discussed.

The Soviet Union and the United States have been divided on how to achieve the cease-fire the Security Council has been demanding for more than two months.

On Sept. 17, the office of U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced the full council is scheduled to meet today to discuss the war. He will also meet separately with the council's five permanent members.

Kuwait said yesterday the Security Council's plan might be the last chance to end the 7-year-old war between its neighbors.

"History will hold us all accountable, without mercy, if we fail to exert the effort and pressure for its implementation," Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed, Kuwait's foreign minister, told the General Assembly.

The United States has deployed a large naval force in the Persian Gulf to help protect Kuwaiti tankers from Iranian attack and keep shipping lanes open.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe said yesterday there might be room for negotiation in the Persian Gulf war but that achieving peace would be a "long, tough task."