July 26, 1987

LEAD: THE Congressional committees studying the Iran-contra affair will not hear testimony from President Reagan, so they will not have a chance to form a firsthand picture of his role in the controversy. But Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, two men who know him well and who met him often during the period in question, have drawn portraits of the

LEAD: LESS than three months after an Iraqi missile killed 37 American Navy sailors aboard the frigate Stark, the United States was plunged anew last week into a critical debate over the scope, purpose and prospects of its role in the Persian Gulf and its credibility throughout the Arab world.

LEAD: NEW JERSEY is considering strategies to provide cogenerators and small power producers greater stability in prices and predictability of payments when they contract to sell electricity to utility companies.

LEAD: It is the peculiar genius of John McEnroe to reach back into the mists and discover his magic corkscrew shots again, yet to remember mainly the fleeting backs of his fellow Americans, whose hunger outweighed their patriotism.

LEAD: The United States team, which had fully expected to come into this afternoon's doubles match at least even in its Davis Cup duel with West Germany, instead discovered itself on the brink of elimination from 1988 Cup contention after John McEnroe and Tim Mayotte dropped singles matches.