Senator: Reagan Approved Arms to Iran

WASHINGTON--The former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said yesterday he believes President Reagan gave advance approval to an Israeli arms shipment to Iran in August 1985, and "ought to stick with" that story he reportedly once told investigators but later retraced.

Senator David Durenberger (R-Minn.) Also said embattled White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan was "just making problems" with some of his actions in the unfolding Iran-Contra controversy.

Meanwhile, members of the presidential review board on the affair conducted a hospital-room interview with former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane.

And inside the White House, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater announced that Reagan stands ready to veto any legislation halting aid to the Contra rebels fighting the Nicaraguan government.

The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved such a bill on Wednesday. Reagan's spokesman said the intent of the legislation "is simply to abandon all Nicaraguans struggling to bring democracy to their country."

Meanwhile, in Congress, Secretary of State George Shultz offered no response when Representative Robert Torricelli (D.-New Jersey) told him during a hearing the U.S.-provided weapons were having a "dramatic" impact in Iran's favor in its war with Iraq.

Torricelli, just back from a trip to Iraq, said, "The security of our country and of the entire western world is very much at issue today. There is a very real threat the Arab world could be united under this [Iranian] fundamentalist revolution."

In another development in the widening investigation into the Iran-Contra controversy, visiting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said in an interview that Israel would provide "necessary information" to congressional committees conducting their own review.

But he said his government would resist any attempt to force Israeli officials to testify about the country's participation in arranging seven U.S. weapons shipments.

Reagan himself said nothing during the day to reporters on the continuing investigation into the secret sale of arms to Iran and apparent diversion of profits to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. He has repeatedly defended the arms sales, but said he knew nothing of the alleged diversion of funds until Attorney General Edwin Meese III unearthed evidence in November of last year.

Regan, the chief of staff, avoided comment as well, as reports continued to circulate that his days at the White House may be coming to an end.

On Wednesday, Reagan said Regan would have to decide on his own whether to remain in his post.

Durenberger, who presided over a three-week Senate Intelligence Committee review of the Iran-Contras affair last December, was critical of Regan, and said some of his actions have not helped the president.

The Minnesota Republican told reporters outside the White House that he and other panel members believed McFarlane when he testified late last year that the president gave advance approval to the Israeli transfer of arms to Iran.

Regan subsequently testified that the president had not given such approval, but was merely informed after the fact.