KUWAIT SEEN WANTING TO LEASE SOME U.S. TANKERS
  The United States said Kuwait was
  discussing plans to lease privately-owned U.S. tankers to
  transport oil through the Gulf in addition to putting some of
  its own vessels under American flags.
      State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley, who made the
  disclosure about the tankers, also told reporters the United
  States expects to conclude very soon a favorable arrangement
  with Saudi Arabia concerning expanded security cooperation in
  the Gulf. The two developments occur as the Reagan
  administration continued to come under fire in Congress for its
  plans to bring 11 Kuwaiti tankers under American flags.
      The move is designed to protect the tankers from Iranian
  attacks and ensure freedom of navigation in the strategic
  waterway but has raised fears on Capitol Hill that it will draw
  the United States into the seven-year-old Iran-Iraq War.
      "The Kuwaitis have discussed the possibility of chartering
  U.S. flag vessels with the Maritime Administration," Oakley
  said. She emphasized, however, that "if some charter arrangement
  could be worked out, it would not supplant the reflagging
  arrangement that we worked out with the Kuwaitis."
      In both cases, the ships would be eligible for U.S. Navy
  escort in the Gulf, she said.
  
     The Washington Post today quoted John Gaughan, administrator
  of the Martime Administration, as saying Kuwait has approached
  an American shipping company about the possibility of a
  charter.
      Gaughan said that earlier this week he told representatives
  of the company, whose identify he did not know, that chartered
  vessels flying the U.S. flag "would be protected," the newspaper
  reported.
      Concerning Saudi Arabia, Oakley said "we are moving forward
  in our talks ... on how we can tailor our efforts and security
  cooperation to facilitate our Gulf operations."
  

