BRIEF ON IRAN No. 172 Friday, May 19, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iran Expanding its Terrorism in Europe, The Washington Times, May 18 "Croatia is allowing Iran to use an island on its Adriatic coast as a transit point for weapons shipments to Bosnian Muslims, U.S. intelligence officials said... "Intelligence reports have said Iran has sent 350 to 400 Revolutionary Guards into Bosnia with the weapons. "The Revolutionary Guards, Tehran's shock troops, are establishing small groups of Bosnian Islamic loyalists similar to the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to reports obtained by the Washington Times. "Tehran is using its forces in Bosnia to expand Iranian operations in Europe and circumvent the U.S. embargo on Iran by purchasing goods and technology covertly... "'We have seen evidence that Iran is providing various kinds of support to the Bosnian Muslims,' a ... U.S. intelligence official said last week. "The support includes arms, training and money and has raised new fears among U.S. officials that Iran is expanding its terrorist operations into Eastern Europe." U.S. Warns Against Iranian Hijackings in Gulf, Reuters, May 14 "The United States has warned ships to exercise caution when sailing in the northern Gulf where it said Iranian gunboats have been intercepting and hijacking ships to extort money, shipping sources said on Sunday. "'Mariners are advised to exercise extreme caution when transiting the waters of the North Persian Gulf,' said the warning issued by the Defence Mapping Agency in Washington. "'Iranian-flag speedboats operating in Iranian and international waters have seized passports and ship documents or cargoes for ransom, occasionally hijacking the vessel as well,' said the warning, received by shipping companies and agents in the Gulf at the end of the week. "Shipping sources in the Gulf have over the past few weeks reported a number of interceptions by Iranian speedboats which order ships to anchor in their territorial waters. They said earlier some shippers were asked to pay up to $80,000 to retrieve confiscated documents and obtain permission to sail... "'In recent incidents, boarding parties claiming to be Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel used the pretext of conducting U.N. embargo inspections (to enforce sanctions against Iraq) or of carrying out official law enforcement to gain access to ships,' the warning said..." Iran's Currency Crackdown, The Wall Street Journal, May 18 "The Tehran government moved to deal with its currency and oil-marketing crisis created by President Clinton's order banning U.S. companies from dealing with Iran. It restricted currency exchange only to banks closely regulated by the central bank. And it set new rates for Iran's currency: 3,000 rials to the dollar for export dealings and 1,705 to the dollar for official and other transactions. The new rates are part of an effort to restrain inflation in the face of the U.S. ban, partly blamed for the rial's drop to 6,500 to the dollar before Iran began cracking down on dealers. Israel Says Worried Despite US-Russia Deal on Iran, Reuters, May 18 "Israel is still worried by Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear capability despite a U.S.-Russian deal under which Moscow agreed not to supply a gas centrifuge to Tehran, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Thursday... "Calling Iran the greatest threat to Arab states as well as Israel, Peres said Tehran had no need for nuclear power since it had plentiful oil resources, and oil-fired power stations produced cheaper energy. "Iran's economic and financial situation was not brilliant and yet its Islamic fundamentalist rulers were spending money on importing nuclear technology. "'That is why we remain worried by this development,' he said... "Iranian officials... called the Moscow summit compromise a failure for Clinton...