Frustrated were the peacemakers, especially when the warring parties were Iran and Iraq. Baghdad insisted on direct talks with Tehran before a cease-fire; Iran was holding out for a truce. But at week's end, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein signaled his willingness to accept a cease-fire, provided that talks followed. There was no immediate response from Tehran.
A U.N. investigating team meantime returned to New York from the battlefront with fresh evidence that Iraq is using chemical weapons. According to the experts, Iraqi forces fired poison-gas shells at Iranian troops before retaking the Majnoun Islands in June. The first symptoms in those...