Some Arab Nations Suspicious of Moscow’s Motives for Ending War : Reaction: Talk about the peace plan has caused a great deal of nervous concern and fears of a Soviet-Iraqi-Iranian axis.

Bedeviled by a lack of details about the current Soviet efforts to arrange an end to the Persian Gulf War before it turns to an expected brutal ground phase, most Arab nations Wednesday cautiously stuck to previous positions and waited for other countries, namely the United States and Iraq, to make the final decisions.

Even without the details, however, some Arab nations were clearly suspicious of Moscow’s motives in trying to end the war, and they raised questions about the kind of postwar Middle East the Soviets have in mind.

Officials in Egypt--the largest Arab nation and a major supporter of the American-led coalition against Iraq, with nearly 40,000 troops based in Saudi Arabia--said they could make no real comment on the Moscow initiative because they had not received the text of the proposal.

However, Butros Butros Ghali, Egypt’s deputy foreign minister, said his government “welcomes any initiative based on U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.”

Privately, other Egyptian officials said they have little expectation that a settlement could be reached in time to head off a ground offensive by the allied coalition. As one said, “I don’t think the Americans will stop short of a total Iraqi surrender, and I doubt that (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein will do that.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has no problems with the American approach, the official added.

“He has constantly followed the policy that Iraq must withdraw immediately and with no conditions,” the official said. “If Saddam chooses to insist on conditions, what follows will be his responsibility. I don’t think it matters that it is a Soviet initiative if it varies at all from this approach.”

There was no comment from Syria, the only other non-Gulf Arab state to send a sizable number of troops to fight with the coalition. And there were no signs that President Hafez Assad, a longtime and bitter opponent of Hussein’s efforts to dominate the region, opposes a ground war that would depose his old enemy as long as it is short and successful.

The talk about the Moscow plan has caused a great deal of nervous concern among several Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, which sees in the Soviet action the prospect of a postwar Middle East dominated by a powerful Soviet-Iraqi-Iranian axis opposed to Saudi interests.

The peace plan “is a fine idea in principle. It’s just that I’m worried about what the Soviets are up to,” said Mohammed Mulla, a Saudi academic.

“I think really they are planning for something else, something after the war, and I don’t think they are really much concerned about what’s happening here. . . . What worries me is they may want to come out as the political winners in this equation versus the U.S.”

Mulla and others, including Kuwaitis, say the interest in the Soviet plan raises questions about the wisdom of the unequivocal backing given the United States.

Still, Mulla said, it probably is too late for such questions in light of the likelihood of the war expanding. “I tell you, it’s going to be bloody,” he said. “But we see it as something where this is nothing else to lose. It has reached a very desperate and hopeless situation.”

In a statement released in his name by the official Saudi Press Agency, King Fahd reiterated demands for an immediate and unconditional Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait and hinted that Hussein must be removed if there is to be permanent peace.

The king said he believes that Hussein’s rejection of all the U.N. resolutions “is an act of providence--ordained by almighty God--designed to finish with Saddam and his untoward principles. . . .”

“I believe that God has worked out his purpose to prevent Iraq’s hand from reaching out to grab other lands.”

Even if he does survive, other Saudi officials said, Hussein’s regime should be economically strangled until it collapses.

“Personally,” said a source close to the government, “I don’t think the sanctions will drop if he pulls out of Kuwait. The only way to have security in the Gulf is for Saddam to disappear from the scene.”

Elsewhere in the Gulf area, officials in the small sheikdoms were reluctant to commit themselves to the Soviet peace plan, in part because of the knowledge that they might have to live with Hussein if he survives.

Tarik Moayyid, Bahrain’s minister of information, said, “It’s obvious that the plan put forward may be short of all the U.N. resolutions and might be insufficient to solve the problem.”

There was no official reaction from the exiled Kuwaiti government. But, in an interview with the Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad, Foreign Minister Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah said, “Kuwait would never conduct any negotiations with Iraq, either with the current Iraqi government or any new leadership in Baghdad after the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

“The regime of Saddam Hussein must go, for the Arabs would not be able to benefit from Iraq as a state while his regime is still in power.”

The only enthusiastic acceptance of the opportunity presented by Moscow’s proposal came, as expected, from Jordan. Given its strongly pro-Iraq population, Jordan has tied itself to Baghdad rhetorically while maintaining a stated policy of neutrality.

“We are encouraged that the Soviets have taken this initiative, and we hope that it will open a door for achieving peace,” said Jordanian Information Minister Ibrahim Izzeddine shortly after Moscow disclosed its move.

This is an opportunity that will not return, Izzeddine told reporters. “I think we have two trains. One train (Iraq) is moving toward peace, and the other train is stopped in one of the stations. We hope it will join the peace trip.”

Egyptian television led news broadcasts with the Soviet initiative, but the stories emphasized President Bush’s frosty reaction and the readiness of coalition forces to begin ground combat.

The country’s leading daily newspapers, all supporters of Mubarak and the coalition effort, ran relatively straightforward accounts of the Soviet plan and again underlined Bush’s negative position.

One clue to the lack of seriousness given Moscow’s move was found in Al Ahram, a newspaper that closely reflects government policy. The top story Wednesday dealt with Mubarak’s plan to streamline bureaucracies dealing with state lands.

Times staff writers Kim Murphy in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Charles Wallace in Manama, Bahrain, and Mark Fineman in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.