BRIEF ON IRAN No. 178 Tuesday, May 30, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iranian Threat Has Saudis Mulling Big Buy of U.S. Ships, The Washington Times, May 27 Saudi Arabia may buy several billion Aegis-class warship later this decade to bolster its navy in response to the growing threat from Iran. Pentagon officials said yesterday... "This would be in response to the increased naval threat posed in the region by Iran," said a U.S. official familiar with the proposed deal. "It would also be a response to Russia's nuclear reactor deal with Iran." "Increasing submarine force capabilities support Iran's proclaimed goal to control the Strait of Hormuz, which it plans to be able to accomplish through the combination of submarines, mines and coastal missile batteries," the Navy said in an intelligence report on submarine proliferation... A More Troublesome Iran in Future, Voice Of America, May 25 At a meeting of the Middle East Policy Council in Washington (Thursday, May 25th), speakers offered varying views on U-S policy toward Iran... Iran is to be judged not just by what it is doing now but what it may do in the future, says Ellen Laipson, Director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. Addressing the Middle East Policy Council meeting, she said Iran is not a military threat to the United States at present, but could be in the years ahead. To prevent that, she explains the United States is combining pressure with dialogue to encourage Iran to change. Specifically, the United States wants it to stop supporting terrorism, opposing the Arab-Israeli peace process and trying to acquire nuclear weapons. She says the President has banned U.S. trade with Iran, but that does not apply to foreign subsidiaries of American companies. Informational material can still be imported from Iran: "As you can see, these are very strong but not total economic measures. They form part but not all of our policy effort vis-a-vis Iran. The economic pressure, in a way has to be seen in the political and diplomatic context that is our overall policy. We are working and will continue to work hard multilateraly to make sure that the arms ban, the limits on credit and aid and the ban on support for Iran from international financial institutions continues..." Rafsanjani Blames His Failure on the Iranian People and U.S., Reuters, May 26 Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday that new exchange controls were aimed at "saboteurs" helping the United States. "The policy is clear: stopping the infiltration of saboteurs who showed at the time of the U.S. embargo that they could align themselves with the United States," Rafsanjani said in a Friday prayer sermon broadcast on Tehran radio... Rafsanjani said the rapid fall of the rial, which was not warranted by economic factors, was caused by dealers taking part in a "psychological war" orchestrated by the United States... "I urge those that lack information and who are writers not to confuse the people and say this is a return (to old policies)," he said, apparently addressing commentators that saw the new rules as signaling an end to Rafsanjani's reform programs... Rafsanjani did not deny that a black market for hard currencies would continue to exist despite the new ban, but said it would be a marginal phenomenon, which he compared to opium. Iran Closes 20 Exchange Shops, Newspapers Say, Reuters, May 27 Iran has ordered 20 currency exchange shops to close down after it imposed exchange controls to prevent the collapse of its rial currency, newspapers reported on Saturday... Keyhan newspaper said 20 shops were told to close and the central bank was to decide on Saturday whether to close "more currency dealers whose activities were no longer needed due to new rules." A central bank spokesperson could not comment on the reports. The rial has lost a third of its value in two weeks following the announcement of a U.S. trade ban on Tehran for its alleged nuclear arms program and its support of what Washington calls "terrorism."... The new rules, which give state-owned banks control over currency exchange, caused a desperate shortage for importers in need of hard cash and brought the private exchange market to a virtual standstill...