BRIEF ON IRAN No. 213 Thursday, July 20, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iran Putting Oil on Sale in Return for Weapons, Radio France International, July 18 According to trade officials in Seoul, Iran and North Korea are negotiating for exchanging oil for missiles. This trade, according to the officials of South Korean Proliferation of Trade, was suggested by the North Korean foreign minister at the end of his visit from Iran... According to Seoul's Trade officials, North Korea which does not have enough cash, has suggested to deliver weapons in exchange for oil. Following the economic embargo by the U.S. and reduction in its oil export, Iran, which has not been very happy with this offer, changed its mind. Iran Paving the Road to Sabotage the Peace Process, Foreign Report, July 13 Hizbullah, Lebanon's Shia Muslim extremist organization, planned to hold its national congress -"Hizbullah in the next phase"- in April. It was held last week in Beirut's southern suburbs in extreme secrecy... Many suspicious hard-liners were worried that Syria was to crack down on the Islamic Resistance, Hizbullah's pro-Iranian military wing, as a part of "confidence-building measures" designed to impress the Americans and the Israelis... The hard-liners were re-assured by the visit of Syria's vice-president, Abdel Karim Khaddam, and the foreign minister, Farouk Sharaa, to Iran on the eve of Israeli-Syrian high-level military talks in Washington last month. In return for Iranian blessing of the general Syrian line in the peace process, Syrians officials assured the Iranians that they would not interfere with Islamic Resistance until the Israelis pull out of south Lebanon. Islamic Resistance promptly tested the arrangement by launching attacks that inflicted casualties on the Israeli army. In Mullahs' Iran, Even Universities Plunder the People, Radio Israel, July 18 All around the world, free universities are organizations for those who want to educate themselves in their leisure. But, at least the authorities of Islamic Free University in Iran have another interpretation for establishing such a university. They are involved in selling steel beams and have even committed some violations. A preliminary punitive court has sued the Islamic Free University to 533 million rials (approximately $2 million dollars) for over pricing steel bars [that it had purchased for building university sites]. This punishment was not because the university was trading steel, but for over pricing and hoarding. Economic Squeeze Made Iran Accept Peace, United Press International, July 19 Domestic economic problems forced Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to accept a U.N. resolution ending the 8-year Iran-Iraq war, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said Wednesday. .. "Economic hardships the country faced...was the main reason the late imam accepted the U.N. Security Council Resolution 598" that ended the war, he said... Khomeini said at the time that making peace with Iraq was "like drinking poison, but for the sake of God I will drink this cup." An IRNA dispatch monitored in Athens quoted Nateq-Noori as saying Khomeini was "informed by the military commanders of the army's logistics situation," besides which "there was not enough money to buy arms." "Also our troops had to withdraw from Faw, Mehran and some other regions." With these factors in mind, Khomeini accepted the U.N. resolution, he said. His acceptance came after a delay of some six years... Iran Buries 300 Iraq-Iran War Dead, United Press International, July 19 Iran Wednesday ceremonially buried the recently discovered bodies of 300 Iranians killed in the eight-year Iraq-Iran war, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. The BBC quoted an Iranian radio broadcast as saying the bodies, which were found during a search of the battlefield area, were buried in the southern Iranian city of Kerman... Technically, Iraq and Iran are still at war, although preliminary contacts have been made to discuss steps toward normalization of relations. But a senior Iranian official said Tuesday that many hurdles remain and suggested Iraq should work to remove them if it wants to improve relations.