Arabic escort kuwait

A convoy of three Navy warships and two Kuwaiti tankers stood ready today to enter the Strait of Hormuz and traverse the Persian Gulf, inaugurating an expanded and more active American military presence. The Pentagon refused to say exactly when the ships would sail, but dispatches by a group of reporters accompanying the convoy indicated that it would get under way Wednesday. The operation is being characterized by the Reagan Administration as an effort to prevent the Soviet Union, which has leased three tankers to Kuwait, from seizing the diplomatic and military initiative in the gulf. Moscow Is Critical of Move. As the convoy prepared to sail, the Soviet Foreign Ministry issued a statement sharply criticizing Washington's expansion of its naval force in the gulf and its plan to escort Kuwaiti tankers flying the American flag. Tankers traversing the Persian Gulf have increasingly been targets in the Iran-Iraq war, which broke out nearly seven years ago.