U.S. Won’t End Role in Gulf, Reagan Says : Senate Orders Presidential Report on Situation There

President Reagan reiterated today that he has no intention of abandoning U.S. protection of shipping lanes in the “particularly volatile” Persian Gulf as the Senate told Reagan that it wants to know more about U.S. naval activity there.

“This week we were given a grim reminder of the human cost of our national security,” Reagan said in remarks to energy industry executives referring to the attack on the frigate Stark that left 37 sailors dead.

“As we grieve the loss of our brave sons, let no one doubt our resolve to protect our vital interests in the Persian Gulf or anywhere else.”

“The gulf is a particularly volatile area,” said Reagan, who will journey Friday to the Stark’s home port of Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Fla., for a memorial service.

“It’s an area of utmost importance to us and the free world. Our fleet has been there for almost 40 years, helping to ensure freedom of navigation and to protect commerce. That difficult, if essential, mission will continue.”

Senate Wants Report

On Capitol Hill, the Senate, by a vote of 91 to 5, approved a proposal requiring Reagan to send Congress a report detailing the threats to U.S. ships in the gulf, the rules and procedures under which the Navy operates to defend itself there, and the details of agreements between the United States and European allies.

At the State Department, meanwhile, spokesman Charles E. Redman said U.S. investigators would leave for Baghdad within a few days to participate in a joint investigation with Iraq into the attack on the Stark.

“We will be sharing with the Iraqis our own version of the incident and would expect the Iraqis to do the same with us,” Redman said.

Would Like Pilot Interview

The U.S. official said the investigators, from the State Department and the Pentagon, would like to interview the pilot of the jet that fired on the frigate.

Earlier, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger in demanding that Iraq produce the fighter pilot who carried out Sunday’s attack.

“I think they’d better produce that pilot that killed 37 innocent Americans in the high seas before sundown,” Lantos, an Administration critic, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“It didn’t take the Iraqi pilot very long to hit the ship,” Lantos said. “But it shouldn’t take any longer to take that pilot down to Bahrain for the board of inquiry so our military people can ask him what happened.”