Harvard has signed contracts with Iranian universities and the Iranian government totalling more than $1.5 million since the fall of 1974.

While the two contracts for a total of $825,000 to develop plans for the proposed Reza Shah Kabir graduate research facility have generated considerable publicity since the first contract was signed in 1974, two additional contracts have remained largely unpublicized.

In 1974, Harvard signed a $690,000 three-year contract with Iran authorizing the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) to direct plans for the development and expansion of the city of Teheran.

And in the summer of 1975, the Harvard Center for Educational Development and Health concluded an $80,000 agreement with the Free University of Iran to train Iranian health professionals in teaching methods.

Med School Suspends Action

In February, the Medical School faculty voted to suspend the school's involvement in the planning of a new Iranian Health Center with Columbia and Cornell Medical schools. The reasons for the suspension of involvement remain unclear.

But the termination of direct involvement in the medical project raised questions concerning the nature and extent of Iranian government intervention in this and similar projects, as well as the regime's alleged failure to honor its contract agreements, a faculty consultant to HIID said Wednesday.

Lester E. Gordon, director of HIID, said yesterday that the Teheran project has encountered "many difficulties."

But he added that the institute "has not been precluded from pursuing any lines of inquiry we deem important."

"We looked [at the nature of the Iranian government] very carefully before we went in, and we decided it would be all right," Gordon said. "We don't see that what we're doing will strengthen the regime, but instead may create new elites prepared to challenge the old elites."

John C. Eddison, associate director of finance and management for HIID, said Wednesday that the 1974 contract was "certainly a major one, and the largest one we're currently engaged in."

He added that the institute has always felt it "more judicious" not to publicize the details of its projects too widely

World Bank Funding

Eddison said the project, funded largely by the World Bank, is aimed at teaching Iranian citizens comprehensive skills in urban planning.

An eight-member HIID team consisting mostly of Harvard graduates and Ph.D.'s has set up an office in Teheran to implement the program, Eddison said.