The World - News from Dec. 8, 1988

Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, ending a tour of Persian Gulf states, said in Kuwait that U.S. naval forces will further scale back their escort duties in the gulf this month but that overall U.S. force levels will remain the same until there is some progress in the Iran-Iraq peace talks. Speaking at a news conference, Carlucci said the 25-ship U.S. force has “shifted from escorting to accompanying, and this month they will go to monitoring,” which he said means that “they don’t have to go with every ship. They can just keep track of the ships and be prepared to respond as necessary.” He also said that Kuwaiti officials have not yet decided whether to continue operating 11 of their tankers under the American flag.