THE U.S. PRESSES ON

The Reagan administration is pressing ahead determinedly with its naval intervention in the Gulf, despite the considerable risks of escalating a conflict which it is officially pledged to resolve. The contradiction (and dangers) of US policy are evident both to Congress - which vainly wishes to postpone the reflagging and escorting of Kuwaiti oil tankers - and to Iran, which sees the whole exercise as a deliberately hostile act directed against itself .