Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Friday, May 12, 1995 BRIEF ON IRAN, No. 167 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 "Iranian Police Arrest Scores Of Money Changers," Reuters, May 11 "TEHRAN - Iranian police arrested scores of money changers on Thursday and confiscated their cash, residents and newspapers said. "The crackdown followed the announcement of emergency laws on Wednesday to stop the free fall of the Iranian rial which has lost about a third of its value against the dollar in two weeks, mainly over worries about a U.S. trade embargo on Iran.... "On Tuesday the dollar traded for 6,300 to 7,000 rials, gaining as much as 700 rials in one day, dealers said. Wednesday was a holiday. "Rafsanjani vowed on Tuesday to crack down on 'speculators and profiteers' he said were collaborating with the United States and Israel to undermine his country's currency. "The Central Bank last month devalued one of the rials official exchange rates against the dollar by 43 percent, and the currency's fall quickened over the U.S. trade ban announced last week. "The ban has prompted fears that rising import prices will boost Iran's already high inflation rate and Iranians have dumped rials for dollars to protect the value of their savings." No Hope For Mullahs' Economy, Israeli Radio, Persian Service, May 10 "In a harshly-worded article about Iran's economy, the English language Tehran daily Iran News accused the Rafsanjani government of incompetence and inaction in the face of current crisis. It wrote: The Islamic Republic's economy continues to tremble and there is no hope for improvement. This is at a time when government officials have promised to reduce the inflation and increase the value of rial. Iran News wrote that doubling the price of oil and other fuels has caused an unprecedented increase in the price of public necessities in the past two months. According to this assessment, the government has failed in its efforts to end the crisis." "Russia Plows On With Nuclear Sales To Iran," Reuters, May 11 "MOSCOW - Russia pressed on with plans on Thursday to sell nuclear reactors to Iran and Tehran said it expected the deal to go ahead despite an agreement with Washington to scrap part of the planned sales. "President Boris Yeltsin agreed at a summit with U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday not to sell Iran equipment which could be used to make nuclear arms and agreed to refer the reactor deal to a joint U.S.- Russian commission. "But Russia's nuclear energy minister made clear on Thursday he expected the reactor sale to go ahead. "He said the contract outlining the sale would remain intact.... "'There can be no talk of reviewing this agreement,' Interfax news agency quoted Nuclear Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov as telling reporters. "Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying about 250 Russian nuclear specialists remained in Iran and the agency added: 'There is no question of their coming home or about a refusal to build the nuclear power station.'... "Iran's top nuclear official repeated Tehran's stand that the gas centrifuge had never been part of the deal with Russia...." "Iran To Show Oil And Petrochemical Facilities," Reuters, May 11 "TEHRAN - Iran has invited Western reporters to show the world that its oil and petrochemical industries are advancing despite increasingly limited access to foreign loans and growing trade sanctions.... "'The tour is to show that we have a production capacity of more than four million bpd [barrels per day] and also to show we have been able to construct the petrochemical plant at Bandar Imam (Khomeini),' an NIOC source told Reuters. "Diplomats in Tehran and oil industry experts are skeptical that Iran can sustain an oil output level of more than 3.6 million bpd without damaging oil reservoirs.... "The refinery is needed to meet soaring domestic demand for oil products and to stop the growth in imports of refined products...."