United States Arms Sales Iran

Vice President George Bush, grilled by anchorman Dan Rather in an extraordinary live interview on the "CBS Evening News," Monday denied concealing information on the Iran-Contra affair and accused the network of falsely suggesting that he was lying.

Lawyers for former White House aide Oliver L. North on Friday subpoenaed President Reagan and President-elect George Bush as witnesses in North's upcoming trial on criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal, setting the stage for a struggle over whether the two chief executives should be compelled to testify in court.

With effusive pledges of fairness, obsequious courtesy and two hours of rhetorical hand-wringing, Congress Tuesday launched into its most eagerly awaited television docudrama since Watergate. Nearly four hours before special House and Senate investigating committees gathered in the storied caucus room where scandals have unfolded and political campaigns have been launched for generations, a line already had formed for the opening of the congressional airing of the Iran- contra scandal.

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, billed as the man with the keys to the Iran- contra scandal, weathered his first day before congressional panels Tuesday after surrendering almost no new answers to the affair. North's testimony came as no surprise to Sen. Warren B. Rudman (R-N.H.), co-chairman of the Senate Iran-contra panel. "It proves what I've been saying all along--that Adm. (John M.) Poindexter will be the key witness, not Oliver North," Rudman said at day's end.

Congressional committees probing the Iran- contra scandal are investigating the mysterious death in London last summer of Iranian weapons dealer Cyrus Hashemi, who had sought unsuccessfully to become a key middleman in the arms-for-hostages trade, The Times has learned. Also, sources say, a U.S.

April 28, 1986: Iranian-born California businessman Albert Hakim, acting at the direction of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, purchases the Danish ship Veralil for 2.5 million Danish crowns, or about $312,500. The owner of record is a dummy Panamanian firm, Dolmy Business Inc. May 5: Hakim changes the ship's name to the Erria and registers it in Panama.

Albert A. Hakim, the Iranian-born California businessman who played a leading role in U.S. arms sales to Iran, approached the CIA in July, 1983, with a plan to gain favor with the Iranian government by selling it arms, a source familiar with the contact said Wednesday. The source, speaking on the condition that he not be identified, said Hakim contacted the CIA immediately after two apparent representatives of the Iranian government met with him at his office in San Jose.

President Reagan, responding to questions about his changing recollections of key events related to the Iran- contra scandal, declared Tuesday: "It's possible to forget." Reagan was asked by a reporter whether he was upset about a report in the New York Times that he could not remember whether he approved in advance the initial Israeli shipment of U.S.-made arms to Iran in 1985. "I'd like to ask one question of everybody," Reagan responded.

A federal judge, rapping his gavel and ordering the jury from the courtroom, threatened to hold former CIA spy chief Clair E. George in contempt Friday for repeatedly interrupting the prosecutor during a grueling cross-examination. George, on trial for perjury, false statements and obstruction of Iran-Contra inquiries, immediately apologized, saying later that the year had been "hell" for him. His lawyer, Richard A. Hibey, told U.S. District Judge Royce C.

Eugene Hasenfus, who says his life has been on a steady downward slide since being shot down by a Sandinista rocket in 1986 while taking part in the illegal Contra resupply operation, was shot down again here Monday by a federal district court jury considering his claims for back pay and legal fees. After five weeks of testimony and five days of deliberation, the six-member panel found Iran-Contra figure Richard V.