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THE UNITED STATES Supreme Court has upheld the right of ex-President Carter to transfer Iranian assets in exchange for the release of 52 American hostages last January. The unanimous ruling clears the way for the transfer of $3,000m-$4,000m of Iranian assets before the July 19 deadline agreed between the US and Iran at the time of the hostage release. What the court has ruled is that former President Carter did have the right to prevent several hundred American companies from pursuing Claims against Iran in United State's courts so that Iran's assets could be returned.

PRESIDENT MITTERRAND has said that France would only reconstruct the Iraqi nuclear installation destroyed by Israel if Iraq agrees to the strictest safeguards against military use of the plant. Who is telling the truth, Iraq which claims the reactor was not used for military purposes, France which has said that it could not have been, Brazil which has announced that they supplied Iraq with heavy fuels that could be put to bomb building, or Israel which says that secret reports show that the reactor was 'live' to the possibilities of military use? The answer is unclear, but what is perfectly obvious is that Israel's raid is thought to be unjustified throughout the world, that M. Mitterrand is highly embarrassed and must protest against the death ·of a French worker within the plant.

IN THE DECADE since the British military withdrawal from the Gulf a near military and political vacuum has existed in the area. The shaky concept that Iran would somehow fill the gap was abruptly demolished by the revolutionary overthrow of the Shah and the subsequent radical shift in Iran's foreign alignments and policies. The war between Iraq and Iran killed off any lingering ideas-that-Iran could play the part of policeman of the region; never a welcome theory to the Arab states and now a totally unacceptable and impossible resort.

DESPITE THE EFFORTS of everyone concerned, the drain on the Iraqi-budget and the desire by both sides to end the conflict, the Irani Iraq war still continues. In Gulf States Newsletter No. 162 it was suggested that the peace talks should be viewed with scepticism. Now that they have broken down entirely, it is worthwhile to look to the possible alternative futures for these two countries.

IN A REPORT published earlier this month; Amnesty International claims that Iraqi use of torture is widespread. It bases its findings on interviews with former detainees and witnesses, and concludes that the use of torture on political prisoners has led to death under interrogation in a number of instances. The London-based human rights organisation only deals specifically with torture in this report, but on a number of occasions in the past has drawn attention to what it claims is a major increase in recent years of executions.

BRITISH PREMIER Margaret Thatcher's visit to the Gulf states last month scored at least one diplomatic success. She appears to have succeeded in convincing her hosts that the American-inspired rapid intervention force planned for the Gulf in case of crisis (to which she lent her support on her visit to Washington last January) will not actually be stationed in the region - or anywhere else, for that matter - without the approval of the local rulers.

The Reagan administration has announced its intention of allowing the sale of five Boeing airliners to Iraq to go ahead after receiving assurances from Baghdad that the aircraft will not be used for military purposes. The original sale was proposed two years ago, but export approval was held up by the Carter administration because Iraq featured on a US list of "terrorist" countries alongside Libya, Syria and South Yemen.

LAST MONTH saw an intensification of the land fighting between Iran and Iraq following the sudden collapse of the Islamic Conference mediation mission. Both sides resorted to threatening imprecations. Ayatollah Khomeini's New Year message called upon all army commanders at the front to launch an offensive against the invaders. Iraq's President Saddam Hussein threatened (perhaps somewhat optimistically) to resume the war of movement.

IT HAS BEEN WITH mounting anticipation that Iraq has watched the Iranian domestic political patchwork unfold itself and it has been with growing apprehension that the Iranian factions have themselves observed their internal squabbles. Since before the conflict with Iraq there has been bitter in-fighting among the Islamic Republican supporters and those of the radical and left-wing groups of which the strongest is the People's Mjahedin. Recently violent skirmishes have broken out, particularly in the far north-western sector of Iran above Tehran.

BRITAIN'S PREMIER Mrs Margaret Thatcher displayed all the symptoms of being under the influence of the Reagan mystique by her recent announcement that the British government intends to support the US in its determination to use the Gulf as a front-line defence outpost against Eastern incursion. Naturally the Gulf States are concerned over the defence of their oil fields and seaways but it is considered an affront to assume that the US and the UK can take it on their own hands to speak out in such areas as Gulf security when neither has first consulted the subject of the quest.

APPREHENSION OVER the effects of the Iraqi Iranian war has prompted six Gulf states to form a Council of Gulf Co-operation which is intended to formulate defensive strategies to protect their own oil installations from a similar occurrence. Speaking in London recently, UAE Oil Minister Dr Mana al-Otaiba stated that his country, together with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, will develop a three point strategy which will improve land, sea and air defence systems, perimeter defence and early warning systems - the group will improve existing systems to a sophisticated level, stockpile vital equipment and spares and place strategic systems underground - thirdly possible new routes for oil pipelines will come under discussion in order to by-pass the vulnerable sea route through the Straits of Hormuz in the Gulf.

THIRTY-EIGHT LEADERS OF ISLAMIC COUNTRIES declared that Jihad, or holy war, will be the prime objective of this generation until Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories are restored. The Mecca declaration, which was the main outcome of the Summit unites the Islamic world firmly behind the Arab cause including support for the Palestinians and a boycott of Israel.

AFTER MORE THAN FIVE AND A HALF MILLION MAN HOURS in captivity the 52 American hostages were finally released from their ordeal in Iran. President Reagan had been in office for half an hour when the news broke that at 17.30 GMT an Air Algerie Boeing 727 had left Tehran airport destined for Algiers via Athena with all 52 hostages on board They were met by Mr Warren Christopher, former US deputy Secretary of State, at 01.30 GMT on Wednesday 21 January and were expected to be transferred to the military hospital at Wiesbaden, Germany.

THE 52 US HOSTAGES still held in Iran must, if they have access to the media, be apprehensive over the attitudes that Reagan's new administration might adopt on the issue of their plight. It has been almost 450 days since the frenzied Iranian students took the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979. Dubbed "a nest of spies" by the revolutionary students, the Embassy was surrounded by a screaming mob and within an hour the huge compound was in their control

NOT EVEN THE PRESENCE of Syria's military might appearing over the Jordanian border could deter King Hussein from holding what became the most important Arab Summit conference of the decade. Held in Amman in the latter days of last month, Arab unity was the password and moot point, darkened only by the shadows cast on the empty seats in the conference room vacated by the representatives of those Arab countries who are determined to assert their authority by ignoring the majority and instigating friction inside the Arab community for their own ends.