Israelis to Be Queried on Iran in Writing

Top Israeli officials have agreed to answer written questions from congressional investigators about their involvement in the Iran- contras affair, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate investigating committee, said Tuesday.

Inouye, who previously expressed a desire to interview foreign leaders directly, said an agreement has been reached under which his committee will submit questions in writing to the State Department, which will relay them to the Israeli government in Jerusalem.

If the answers are not satisfactory, he said, the committee will have the right to submit follow-up questions to clarify the initial answers.

Inouye indicated that he is satisfied with this system, even though it does not provide for the face-to-face interviews that he initially had sought. But he said he was assured by State Department officials that this procedure has been followed in previous cases involving foreign officials.

More Agreements Sought

In addition, Inouye said, he hopes to work out a similar agreement allowing the committee to interview officials of other countries. Although he declined to name the other nations, the list presumably would include Saudi Arabia and Brunei, which were solicited by the Reagan Administration to contribute money to rebels fighting the leftist regime in Nicaragua.

Inouye also refused to name the Israeli officials who will be questioned in writing by the committee. But the list is understood to include Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who as prime minister last year is alleged to have played a role in persuading the Administration to ship arms to Iran.

So far, Peres and others have strongly denied that Israel played anything but a minor role in the entire affair.

Delay Defended

Also on Tuesday, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III defended himself from criticism about his initial delay in questioning Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, who was fired from the National Security Council staff. The postponement allowed North to meet secretly with a lawyer and two other key figures in the scandal, former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, in a report issued last Thursday, said that Meese had sought to question North on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 23, 1986, but that North won his permission to delay the session until afternoon so that he could attend church services.

“I don’t know whether he went to church or not,” said Meese, who has not yet read the Senate report. By that time, Meese said at a press conference, he had already talked to McFarlane and had no reason to believe then--”and I don’t believe now”--that they changed their stories after conferring with each other.

Release of Notes Criticized

Meanwhile, Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming, ranking Republican on the House select committee on the Iran-contras affair, criticized President Reagan’s decision to release personal notes regarding the decision to sell arms to Iran.

Cheney, who was White House chief of staff under former President Gerald R. Ford, expressed concern that Reagan’s decision could set a precedent under which future Presidents would be forced to release even the most “private and confidential” documents.

“There isn’t anybody at the White House who is worried about the next President,” Cheney complained at a breakfast with reporters. “The fact that one President screwed up and made a bad decision in the Iranian affair does not justify . . . impairing the ability of this President and others” to protect their most personal records.

Inouye indicated that the House and Senate committees investigating the Iran-contras affair are considering joint hearings. He also indicated that the committee’s public hearings might not begin until April--two months later than originally planned.

Staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow and Karen Tumulty contributed to this story.