The full report, if released, could shed new light on whether there was a presidential cover-up of the affair, in which the United States secretly arranged the sale of weapons to Iran to obtain the release of US hostages, and funneled the revenue from the sale to Contra rebels in Nicaragua at a time when such aid was illegal.

This week, a consortium of journalists and public interest specialists filed an emergency brief to a three-judge panel that has the authority to release, censor or block the report. The National Security Archive, a nonpartisan research group that is trying to win the release of the report, said in a statement accompanying the brief that participants in the Iran-Contra affair are trying to stop the release of the document.

Thomas Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, a repository of declassified documents, said that defense lawyers for participants in the Iran-Contra affair are trying to block the report or at least alter its conclusions.

A lawyer for former President Reagan would not confirm that he is trying to block release of the report. A lawyer for former President Bush did not return telephone calls.

The Society of Professional Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have joined the archive in calling on the judicial panel to release the report after Dec. 3. That is the deadline by which the subjects of the report, including Reagan, can formally respond to it.

According to analysts familiar with the new report and previous documents released by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, the special prosecutor is expected to conclude that Reagan authorized two arms sales to Iran in 1985 despite being warned by two Cabinet secretaries and his chief of staff that they were illegal.

Walsh is also likely to focus on his longtime assertion that a high-level cover-up occurred. Walsh finished the report Aug. 5, but its contents have remained under seal.

Under the independent counsel law, key individuals named in the report can petition a three-judge panel to rewrite the document or block its publication. At the very least, Reagan and others could delay publication and request that their written rebuttal of the report be included.

As a result, it is not clear whether Walsh's still-secret conclusions will be released as written. Reagan's lawyer has already delayed publication by 60 days, until Dec. 3, and could file a motion to block its release indefinitely.

Walsh said in an interim report released last February that if Bush had not issued his Christmas Eve pardons to six players in the affair, the prosecution could have proved that a cover-up took place in an effort to save Reagan's presidency.

Peter Kornbluh, an analyst at the National Security Archive, noted in an interview last week that when Bush issued his pardons last year, he said he was not hiding evidence because Walsh would "have the opportunity to place his full assessment of the facts in the public record when he submits his final report." Kornbluh said that some participants in the affair are now attempting to "suppress" that report.

Walsh's critics, including many Republicans, have said the Oklahoma City lawyer is an embittered man making allegations in reports that he could not bring in court.

According to people familiar with Walsh's report, it alleges that Reagan authorized the two arms sales to Iran in 1985 despite having been warned by two Cabinet members that they were illegal. Reagan has said he does not remember whether he authorized the arms sales.

A year later, after the Iran-Contra affair was made public, key officials tried to cover up authorization of the arms sales by concocting a "false account" about the chain of events, the report says.

The president's top aides feared that if authorization of the two potentially illegal arms sales had become known at the time, Reagan might have faced impeachment or even criminal charges.

Reagan's lawyer, Theodore Olson, said in an interview he was under court order not to say anything about the report. But he said any charges of a cover-up were "irresponsible" and that Walsh's interim report was "a diatribe and a comment on what he wished to have prosecuted instead of an objective report."

Walsh has made clear for many months that he believes Reagan bears significant responsibility for the affair, highlighting notes that show Reagan was warned that arms shipments may have been illegal. In addition, Walsh has excoriated Bush for pardoning Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's defense secretary, and other key players in the affair last Dec. 24, thus effectively ending prosecution of the case.

While much of the report's information is not new, the wealth of documentation could revive questions about Reagan, Bush and then-Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, none of whom were indicted:

- Reagan - The key question since the affair became public in 1986 is whether Reagan approved two initial arm sales to Iran, transfers through Israel that Walsh has said were potentially illegal.

Reagan first told investigators that he approved the arms sale, but later said he could not remember what happened. Walsh reportedly says in his report that Reagan approved the sales despite being warned that they were illegal.

- Bush - The then-vice president, in a much-quoted phrase, said in 1987 that he was "not in the loop" on Iran-Contra. Bush has since said he knew about the arms sales, but did not explicitly link them to an effort to release the hostages.

Bush's assertion became an issue just before Election Day last year when Walsh released a note written by Weinberger that said "VP approved" Reagan's decision to "go with Iranian-Israeli offer to release our five hostages in return for sale of 4,000" antitank missiles. In addition, Bush told the FBI that he knew about the 1985 arms sales that others described as potentially illegal. Walsh has said that Bush should have known that false statements were made by administration officials about the matter.

- Meese - As reported by the Associated Press last month, Walsh's report is expected to allege Meese prepared a "false account" of Reagan's role in authorizing the arms sales, and, fearing impeachment of the president, conspired with other top officials to maintain the cover story. Meese, who denies involvement in a cover-up, could not be reached for comment.

The cover-up culminated in a Nov. 24, 1986, meeting, led by Meese and attended by Reagan, Bush, then-Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and Weinberger, Walsh has said. Meese told the gathering there was no evidence that Reagan authorized the two illegal arms sales.

The Walsh report says everyone at the meeting, including Bush, knew or should have known Meese's statement was false. The final report, according to AP, states: "The president's most senior advisers and the Cabinet members on the National Security Council participated in the strategy to make McFarlane, Poindexter and North the scapegoats whose sacrifice would protect the Reagan administration in its final two years."

Former national security adviser Robert McFarlane pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors and was among those pardoned by Bush. McFarlane's successor, Adm. John M. Poindexter, was convicted of five felonies, and Lt. Col. Oliver North was convicted of three felonies, but Poindexter and North had their convictions overturned.

 Related:  "The Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran-Contra Matters"