The World - News from May 1, 1988

Saudi Arabia has rejected a U.S. request to inspect its Chinese-built missiles for nuclear or chemical warheads, the Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan ibn Abdulaziz, said. Sultan, in an interview with the London-based Lebanese magazine Al Sayyad, said he told the Reagan Administration: “We buy weapons from you, and the only condition of the purchase contracts is that we don’t give these weapons to a third country. Other than that, the matter is our concern only.” Washington has voiced unhappiness over the Saudi purchase of the CSS-2 missiles, which have a range of 1,850 miles.