Arms Sales to Iran Won’t Continue, Mubarak Is Told

CAIRO — U.S. envoy Richard W. Murphy said Sunday that he assured Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan that U.S. arms sales to Iran were a “one-time exception” that will not be repeated.

Murphy told reporters after a meeting with Mubarak that the Reagan Administration was “very serious” about promoting Middle East peace by “helping bridge the differences” between the Arabs and Israel.

Murphy, who shuttled between Jordan and Israel before coming to Egypt on Saturday, said of the Iran arms deal: “That was a one-time exception, an effort to probe the possibilities for an improved relationship (with Iran), which did not work.

“As far as the arms transfers are concerned, they will not be repeated,” Murphy, an assistant secretary of state, said in reply to a question about the U.S. message to Mubarak and Hussein.

Murphy, describing the one-hour meeting with Mubarak as a “very useful exchange,” said he was sent to the region by President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz to “assess--and this is a very important word--to assess what are the prospects for making progress in the peace process.”

Mubarak has said that the arms transfers undermined the Administration’s credibility among Arabs. Hussein expressed shock and disappointment.