A Shopping Trip to Moscow

Top officials of oil-rich Kuwait, led by Defense Minister Sheik Salem al-Sabah, flew to Moscow last week on a ten-day arms-buying trip. High on the Kuwaiti shopping list were sophisticated SA-8 surface-to-air missiles, as well as shoulder-fired SA-7's, as substitutes for the Stinger anti-aircraft weapons that the Reagan Administration declined to supply last month on the grounds that Congress would veto the deal. The Soviets seemed happy to oblige: the two parties initialed a weapons-purchase agreement, although no details were announced.

The mission to Moscow served as a sharp reminder that the gulf region is the scene of an escalating arms race, partly as a result of the Iran-Iraq war. One of Kuwait's primary concerns is that Iran might launch air attacks against Kuwaiti oil refineries, loading facilities and desalination plants. Other gulf Arab countries have similar fears. As a result, billions of dollars of American, British and French weapons have been flowing into the area. Underlining the climate of uncertainty in the gulf, the British tanker Renown was struck last week by Iranian air-launched missiles. Ironically, Renown had been steaming to unload Iranian oil from another stricken tanker, hit by Iraqi missiles the week before.