The World - News from Oct. 2, 1988

Iran and Iraq resumed peace talks at the United Nations, and Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar offered new proposals to break a stalemate over navigation rights. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz were leading their respective delegations. The talks opened with the two sides seated in one room but shifted to indirect negotiations after reporters left. The major issue is the Shatt al Arab waterway, which forms the nations’ southern border and is Iraq’s only outlet to the Persian Gulf. When talks broke off Sept. 13 in Geneva, Iraq was insisting that the waterway be cleared and made navigable again.