BRIEF  ON  IRAN, No. 175
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        Wednesday, May 24, 1995


        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Iran Holds Missile Exercise In Strait Of Hormuz, Reuters,
May 23

        NICOSIA - Iran's missile forces started war games
on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the
Gulf, the Iranian IRNA news agency said on Tuesday.
        Revolutionary Guard and army forces are taking
part in the five-day military exercises code-named
'Falaq (Daybreak) Three,' the agency said.
        Iran on Monday also launched military exercises
near its southern port city of Khorramshahr on the Iraqi
border to coincide with the anniversary of the liberation
of the city in 1982 after 19 months of occupation during
the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.


Military Exercise In Central Iran, Government Controlled
Daily Kayhan, May 21

        According to Revolutionary Guards Corps
Lieutenant General Mohammad Mirjani ... military
exercises will be conducted in five phases, in response to
the United States threats, in the Kooshk-Nosrat region of
central Iranian city of Qom. ... In these maneuvers, the
most advanced fighter-bombers will be employed and
the best forces of the military and the Revolutionary
Guards will take part.

Iran Weapons Buildup Increases Danger Of Conflict With
U.S. and Israel, Associated Press, May 19

        LONDON - President Clinton's ban on U.S. commerce
with Iran intensifies the danger of conflict with Tehran
at a particularly perilous time, according to a report
Friday by Jane's Intelligence Review....
        The May 1 ban was Clinton's attempt to pre-empt
harsher Republican measures as much as it was
punishment for Iran's purported quest for nuclear
weapons and sponsorship of terrorism....
        There have been unconfirmed reports of
clandestine, night landings by Iranians in the United
Arab Emirates, which is locked in a dispute with Tehran
over strategic islands in the southern Gulf, the report
said. Bahrain has also blamed Iran for causing riots early
this year....
        Iran embarked on a large-scale military
rearmament after its eight-year war with Iraq, which
ended in 1988.
        It is increasing its ability to conduct guerrilla
attacks against unsuspecting ships and is doing its
utmost to deploy long-range ballistic missiles and
acquire long-range strike aircraft, the report said.
        Tehran likely has stockpiled between several
hundred and 2,000 tons of chemical weapons and is
believed to have a biological weapons program, the
report said. Evidence also suggests Iran has a fledgling
nuclear weapons program.
        The United States believes the cornerstone of Iran's
alleged nuclear program is an $800 million deal Tehran
signed with Russia to complete a nuclear reactor, the
report said....


Perry Details U.S. Implementation Of Policy Toward Iran
And Iraq, Defense Secretary William Perry at the Council
on Foreign Relations, New York, May 18

        ... It [Iran] has been constructing a military buildup
on several small Gulf islands close to the Strait of
Hormuz through which 90 percent of the Gulf oil exports
travel.  They've added several thousand additional
troops to those islands, artillery, anti-ship missiles and
even chemical weapons.  To complicate the situation
further, Iran has bought submarines with mine-laying
capabilities and patrol boats with anti-ship missiles.
        All in all, Iran's attempt to acquire nuclear
technology, its support of terrorism against Israel and
other states, its opposition to the Middle East peace
process, and its threatening position in the Gulf make an
inherently destabilizing force in the region....