Acted Correctly on Iran, Reagan Says : President Takes Full Responsibility, Calls Operation a Partial Success

President Reagan on Wednesday took personal responsibility for the Administration’s secret shipment of arms to Iran and insisted that the highly controversial operation had not been a mistake.

“I decided to proceed, and the responsibility for the decision and the operation is mine and mine alone,” Reagan told his first televised news conference in more than three months. “I don’t think it has been a fiasco,” he said.

Reagan, defending the highly secret operation in the face of bipartisan congressional criticism and widespread public skepticism, argued that it had been a partial success--winning freedom for three American hostages held in Lebanon and establishing contact with Iranian elements that may play an important role in the future of that strategically placed country.

“I don’t feel that I have anything to defend about at all,” he said. “With the circumstances the way they were, the decision I made I still believe was the correct decision, and I believe that we achieved some portion of our goals.”

The President acknowledged that several top advisers had opposed the sale of arms to Iran but said, “I deeply believe in the correctness of my decision.

“I was convinced then and I am convinced now,” he said, “that while the risks were great, so too was the potential reward.”

Reagan aides hoped that the press conference would help silence criticism that has threatened to cast a shadow over the last two years of his presidency, but his performance brought unusually harsh criticism from key leaders in the new Congress and renewed expressions of doubt from at least one senior Republican.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), one of the most influential members of Congress on national security matters and a conservative who frequently has supported Reagan policies, said: “I think the problem has gotten worse this evening. . . . We have a foreign policy that is in serious disarray now.”

And Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) criticized Reagan’s justification for keeping the operation secret from congressional leaders. “I suspect the President does not understand the law with regard to informing Congress,” he said.

Emphasis on Arms Transfers

In his news conference, which was devoted almost entirely to the arms shipments issue, Reagan:

--Pledged that the United States would ship no more weapons to Iran. “To eliminate the widespread but mistaken perception that we have been exchanging arms for hostages, I have directed that no further sales of arms of any kind be sent to Iran,” he said.

--Said that Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who had publicly criticized the secret Iranian operation and indicated that he might resign, “has made it plain he will stay as long as I want him, and I want him.”

--Contended that other hostages in Lebanon would have been released if the Administration’s efforts had not become known. “If there had not been so much publicity, we would have had two more that we were expecting,” he said, blaming the initial disclosure on elements in Iran hostile to the U.S. overtures.

--Argued that the President has authority to waive legal requirements for the timely reporting of such operations to Congress “if, in his belief national security can be served.” But he said he has directed that all information relating to the operation now be made available to the appropriate members of Congress.

--Declared that “we did not condone, and do not condone, the shipment of arms from other countries (to Iran).” Immediately after the press conference, however, the White House issued a “clarification” conceding that the United States has condoned arms shipments from one other nation to Iran.

--Confirmed that he had issued “a waiver of our own embargo,” saying he acted “to try and establish a relationship with a country that is of great strategic importance to peace and everything else in the Middle East; at the same time also to strike a blow against terrorism and to get our hostages back.”

Iran’s Good Faith

Reagan insisted that Iran had demonstrated its good faith in its dealings with the United States by securing the release of three American hostages in Lebanon over the last 14 months, just as the United States used the arms shipments to demonstrate its good will.

“However,” he said, “to eliminate the widespread but mistaken perception that we have been exchanging arms for hostages, I have directed that no further sales of arms of any kind be sent to Iran. I have further directed that all information relating to our initiative be provided the appropriate members of Congress.”

Reagan, unusually somber throughout the press conference, reacted sharply when a reporter suggested that his credibility had been severely damaged by the Iranian operation and asked whether he thought he could repair it.

“Well, I imagine I’m the only one around who wants to repair it, and I didn’t . . . have anything to do with damaging it,” he declared.

Disbelief Widespread

Polls taken after Reagan’s speech last Thursday and a White House news media blitz showed that a large majority of Americans did not believe the President when he said that the Iranian initiative did not involve exchanging arms for hostages. A Los Angeles Times poll showed that only 14% found his statement to be “essentially true” and that 79% believed it to be technically true but “in reality misleading” or “essentially” false.

Reagan reiterated that the Iranian operation was aimed at four objectives: restoring relations with Iran, ending Iran’s participation in terrorism, bringing an end to the Iran-Iraq War and freeing the American hostages.

“This undertaking was a matter of considerable debate within Administration circles,” he said. “Our top policy objectives were never in dispute. There were differences on how best to proceed. The principal issue in contention was whether we should make isolated and limited exceptions to our arms embargo as a signal of our serious intent.”

He said that he weighed the views of those who opposed the operation and others who felt no progress could be made without the sale of arms, then considered the risk of failure and the rewards of success and made his decision.

“As Mr. (Abraham) Lincoln said of another presidential decision,” Reagan continued, “if it turns out right, the criticism will not matter. If it turns out wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right will make no difference.”

Criticism From GOP

The operation has been severely condemned by Republicans as well as Democrats, and committee chairmen in both the Senate and House have said that they will conduct hearings on it.

Ed Rollins, Reagan’s former chief political adviser and director of his 1984 reelection campaign, harshly criticized Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and other White House officials who supported the plan and urged that details of it be released because “the quicker it gets unraveled, the better off we all are.”

Nunn, the ranking Democrat and soon-to-be chairman of the Armed Services Committee as well as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “I counted at least seven major contradictions from what I had previously been informed by Administration officials.”

And both Nunn and Lugar criticized Reagan for denying that the United States has condoned arms shipments by any countries. “The President’s information on that point was not good,” said Lugar.

Senate Democratic Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said he does not believe Reagan convinced many people that he acted properly.

“The American people are smarter than the Administration thinks, and it’s time for that reality to strike the Administration. The American people don’t want any more excuses. They want to get on with the business of restoring our nation’s credibility and it’s anti-terrorism policy.”

Decision Was Legal

Under questioning at the press conference, Reagan said that the decision to withhold information about the operation from Congress was legal.

“I was not breaking any law in doing that,” he said. “It is provided for me to do that. I have the right under the law to defer reporting to Congress--to the proper congressional committees--on an action, until such time as I believe it can be safely done, with no risk to others.

Reagan insisted that he did not violate a 1977 national security law by failing to inform key lawmakers of the secret overtures to Iran. “The President, believe it or not, does have the power, if in his belief national security can be served, to wave provisions of that law as well as to defer notification of the Congress,” he maintained.

And the President sought to play down the widely reported divisions within his Administration over the arms shipments, denying that key officials had been left in the dark about the operations. “The secretary of state was involved, the director of the CIA was involved in what we were doing,” he said.

Others’ Sales Not Condoned

Asked about arms shipments by other countries, Reagan said that “we did not condone and do not condone the shipment of arms from other countries.”

He professed to have no knowledge of a September, 1985, shipment of arms to Iran from a third country--known to be Israel--which preceded the release of hostage Benjamin Weir last year. When a questioner told him that Chief of Staff Regan had confirmed the shipment, Reagan said: “I never heard Mr. Regan say that and I’ll ask him about it.”

When another questioner asked if Reagan was saying that the only arms shipments to Iran approved by the United States were the two direct shipments earlier this year, the President said: “That’s right. I’m saying that nothing but the missiles we sold.”

Later, however, the White House issued an extraordinary written “clarification” attributed directly to the President:

“There may be some misunderstanding of one of my answers tonight. There was a third country involved in our secret project with Iran. Taking this into account, all of the shipments of the token amounts of defensive arms and parts that I have authorized or condoned taken in total could be placed aboard a single cargo aircraft. This includes all shipments by the United States or any third country. Any other shipments by third countries were not authorized by the United States government.”

Reagan, asked how he could justify breaking the arms embargo to Iran at the same time he was publicly calling on U.S. allies to observe the ban, denied that there was any inconsistency in his actions. “I don’t think it was duplicity, and the violation did not in any way alter the military balance” of Iran and Iraq in their war, he said.

Reagan text, Page 14.