KUWAIT MAY RE-REGISTER GULF TANKERS - NEWSPAPER

  Kuwait may re-register part of its
  tanker fleet with foreign flag jurisdictions, including the
  U.S. And USSR, in an attempt to protect them from Iranian
  missile attacks in the Gulf war zone, U.S. Officials were
  quoted by the New York Times as saying.
      The transfers would allow the country of registration to
  escort Kuwaiti-owned ships in the Gulf. Kuwait had earlier
  declined an offer of U.S. Naval escorts as too public an
  admission of its need for protection, they said.
      Kuwait is also looking at flagging-out to European
  registries, the officials said.
      Soviet flag tankers transporting Kuwaiti oil through the
  Gulf may get Soviet escorts, the officials said.
      Kuwait had earlier considered having both USSR and U.S.
  Escorts, but the U.S. Was unwilling to give the Soviet Union a
  naval role in the region, the newspaper quoted the officials as
  saying.
      Kuwait has backed Iraq in the seven-year war against Iran
  and its ships have increasingly been the target of Iranian
  attacks.
      The U.S. And Kuwait have been negotiating for over a month
  on methods of protecting Kuwaiti ships.
  

