Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisonerof war in Vietnam, said that as long as Americansremain hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian elements,"there will be resentment to any payment, to anyIranian, under any circumstances."

Fitzwater made clear that the money would bechanneled through some third-party organization orintermediary, such as the Red Crescent, an arm ofthe Red Cross, and not the Iranian government.

He acknowledged that the U.S. government hadnot yet addressed the question of how, and withwhom, to verify the identities of the dead orsurvivors who will likely make claims forcompensation.

All but 38 of the Iran Air passengers were fromIran. The others were from India, Italy, Pakistan,Turkey, Yugoslavia and the United Arab Emirates.

During a picture-taking session with SalvadoranPresident Jose Napoleon Duarte, who isrecuperating from cancer surgery here, Reagan toldreporters, "I, from the first, have said we're acompassionate people, and I think that we all havecompassion for the families of those unfortunatepeople who were on that plane."

The president said he understood a recentpublic opinion poll showing a majority ofAmericans opposed the granting of compensation,but said, "I think that they have tied that to ourfeelings about the government and what it did withregard to our people in the embassy there [inTehran in 1979], when the Ayatollah [RuhollahKhomeini] came in [to power]."

The administration left several questionsunanswered. Fitzwater said he had no idea of theamount of money to be offered.

As the administration moved on the question ofcompensation, there were these other developments:

--The Khaleej Times in Dubai quotedunidentified salvage experts in Dubai as sayingthe Iranians recovered the flight recorder fromthe downed airliner in the past few days. ButIran's navy commander said search teams had so farfailed to find the flight recorder, Tehran Radioreported.

--With the Security Council convening today todebate the incident, the United States, Britainand France were expected to use their veto poweras permanent council members to kill any attemptto censure the United States.

Fitzwater said he would not compare payments inthe Iran airliner case with compensation theUnited States is seeking from Iraq for its May1987 attack on the USS Stark. Thirty-sevenAmerican crewmen were killed.

There have been reports that the United Statesis seeking $1 million for the families of each ofthose victims