The World - News from Aug. 29, 1988

The Persian Gulf peace talks in Geneva were at least temporarily downgraded from a political to a technical level after Iraq accused Iran of sabotaging the negotiations. Foreign ministers Tarik Aziz of Iraq and Ali Akbar Velayati of Iran withdrew from indirect talks after several hours Sunday, but their delegations remained until the meetings ended after about six hours. U.N. spokesman Francois Giuliani said the talks are expected to continue today at the technical level. The snag in the talks came after a hard-line statement by Iraq’s deputy foreign minister, Sadoun Hamadi, was received from Baghdad. Hamadi said Iran “is placing obstacles and pretexts . . . which increase our suspicions.”