December 6, 1986

Many Federal prosecutors are no longer interested in pressing investigations into more than a dozen suspected attempts to smuggle arms to Iran, Federal officials say. Since the disclosures that the Reagan Administration sold arms to Iran, ''there has been a serious change in attitude'' in United States attorneys' offices nationwide, a senior Federal law-enforcement official said. Even though the Government's official position is that the cases ought to be pursued, the official said that many Federal prosecutors ''are telling us we'll never get a conviction, and they don't want to even try to make the cases anymore.'' Officials Are Dispirited He and other law-enforcement officials say they are growing dispirited and they fear, as one Federal investigator put it, that Iranian arms smugglers and their agents ''are going to have a free hand here soon.''

For most of her nearly eight years as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher has been routinely castigated for making Britain Europe's ''odd man out'' and putting up obstacles to closer political and economic cooperation among the members of the European Community. Today, as she presided here over the semiannual summit meeting known as the Council of Europe, Mrs. Thatcher was cast more positively in the role of a European leader. The change in perceptions reflects a substantial adjustment in Britain's orientation to the 12-nation Community that has been taking place quietly as a result of patient diplomatic work on on a range of issues from airline deregulation to terrorism. The Prime Minister, now the Community's senior head of government, still resists flowery language about European unity, but as a matter of practical policy she has made it an objective of British diplomacy to align her Government as closely as possible with key European partners, especially France and West Germany, on major issues within the Community.

President Reagan's draft budget for the next fiscal year proposes dramatic changes in Medicare to restrict Federal payments to physicians for services provided to elderly people in hospitals. Confidential documents show that the Office of Management and Budget wants to consolidate payments to hospitals and physicians into lump sums for each case. The Government would pay a fixed amount, set in advance, depending on the diagnosis, regardless of how long the patient was hospitalized, what services were required or how many doctors were involved. A Major Change in System This would represent a major change from the system that has existed since the Medicare program began 20 years ago. Under the present system, doctors are paid 80 percent of their customary charge or the local prevailing charge, whichever is lower, for each service they provide to patients in the hospital.

The Soviet Union said today that it would continue to adhere to the 1979 strategic arms treaty ''for the time being,'' despite Washington's deployment of a bomber last Friday that exceeded the limits of the unratified accord. But the Kremlin added that the American decision gave the Soviet Union ''all grounds to regard itself free from its commitments'' under the treaty and under the first treaty to limit nuclear arms, which was concluded in 1972. The accords are known as SALT I and SALT II.

The Central Intelligence Agency has told Congress that Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North persuaded the agency to help in a 1985 arms shipment to Iran by giving a middle-level employee misleading information about what was being sent, according to people familiar with the Congressional investigation. Some investigators and members of the Congressional intelligence committees were said to be skeptical about the account and suspect that the C.I.A. could have known the shipment contained arms for Iran. C.I.A. Role in 1985 Delivery The issue is important because the C.I.A. assisted in the arms delivery in November 1985, more than two months before President Reagan authorized the agency's participation in covert arms deliveries to Iran. Members of Congress have been trying to determine whether the C.I.A. violated the law by assisting the covert shipment without formal authorization.