U.S. TO PROTECT ONLY AMERICAN SHIPS U.S. military forces in the Mideast Gulf are under orders to protect only American flag vessels and occasional U.S. arms deliveries on other ships to "non-belligerent" states in the area, the Pentagon said today. "No one has ever stated or supported a policy of protecting all shipping in those waters," Pentagon spokesman Bob Sims said as the Reagan Administration drew up plans to increase the protective U.S. military presence in the gulf. Sims denied published reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger sought air cover to protect all neutral shipping in the western gulf from attacks by Iran and Iraq. "As we have said repeatedly, only American flag vessels are under our protection with the exception, on a limited case-by-case basis, of ships carrying our Foreign Military Sales equipment to friendly, non-belligerent states in the region," Sims said. U.S. warships in the gulf two weeks ago protected a Kuwaiti ship which sailed to Bahrain with U.S. arms for Bahrain and Kuwait. But Sims said Washington had received assurances that the the arms would not be used elsewhere. He said Kuwait, which is turning 11 oil tankers over to U.S. firms to fly the American flag and be protected by the U.S. warships, is not considered a belligerent despite Iranian charges that Kuwait is supporting Iraq in the gulf war. Kuwaiti tankers have come under repeated Iranian attack. Sims refused to say how the United States will beef up its seven-ship Middle East Task Force in the gulf to protect the 11 Kuaiti tankers. But Pentagon officials said that additional ships and air cover are under consideration.