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Washington Report, June 18, 1984, Page 6 Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations May 29: The Reagan Administration announced the "immediate sale" of 400 Stinger antiaircraft missiles to Saudi Arabia, along with one KC-10 aerial refueling tanker. Explaining the sale, the Administration said in a statement that the increased number of attacks recently on neutral ships in the Gulf had created "emergency circumstances" and that "further escalation could threaten Saudi Arabia and oil supplies ..." The Administration also announced that it was expediting delivery to Saudi Arabia of extra-capacity fuel tanks for a dozen of its F-15 jet fighters, as well as ammunition and spare parts. May 31: Two days after the Reagan Administration announced the sale of 400 Stinger missiles to Saudi Arabia, Defense Department spokesman Michael Burch said the U.S. is not planning any additional weapons sales to Gulf countries. Mr. Burch acknowledged that the U.S. had received an informal inquiry from Kuwait about Stingers, but said "we do not contemplate sales of any more Stingers in that region at present." He added that the arms needs of Gulf nations "might be better met elsewhere." June 1: The U.S. voted in favor of an Arab-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Iran for its recent attacks on commercial vessels sailing to and from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The U.S. was one of 13 nations voting in favor of the resolution. The remaining two countries on the Council, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, abstained. June 4: Two advanced-model U.S. AWACS surveillance planes, capable of tracking ships and low-flying aircraft, arrived in Saudi Arabia to replace two older AWACS currently on lease to the Saudis, according to U.S. officials. The Administration has announced plans to replace Saudi Arabia's two remaining older AWACS, which lack the ship-tracking radar, by the end of June. June 5: Saudi Arabian F-15 jet fighters, guided by radar from U.S. AWACS planes, shot down—near the Saudi island Of Arabiyah, in the Gulf—an Iranian F-4 Phantom that the Saudis said had crossed over into their airspace. June 14: The State Department announced that the U.S. will use "all available diplomatic resources" to oppose a move by "some Arab countries" to expel Israel from the U.N. Universal Postal Union (UPU), which is meeting in Hamburg beginning June 18. "Israel's expulsion from the UPU at the Hamburg Congress would immediately cause us to pull our delegation out of the Congress, suspend our participation in UPU activities, and withhold payments to the UPU," the statement said. SIDEBAR Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish OrganizationsFollowing is a list of the 38 organizations which make up the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations:
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