BRIEF  ON  IRAN, No. 251
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        Wednesday, September 13, 1995



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Britain Weighs Action Against Iran over Rushdie, Reuters,
September 12

        LONDON - Britain said on Tuesday it saw no hope of
Iran formally rescinding a 1989 death threat against
writer Salman Rushdie and was therefore weighing the
possibility of retaliatory action....
        EU ambassadors met in Madrid last Friday with a
Tehran delegation to discuss the fatwa against Rushdie
but the Iranians offered nothing substantive, said a
British official.
        "It's clear to us now that we're not going to get the
assurance we're looking for," he said.
        The late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini issued the death edict against Rushdie in 1989,
accusing him of blasphemy against Islam in his novel "The
Satanic Verses."
        Rushdie, who emerged from hiding last week to
make his first pre-announced public appearance, has said
he would press Brussels to implement the "toughest
possible penalties" on Iran.
        EU aides will discuss the range of retaliatory options
at a meeting in Brussels this week but no decisions are
expected until later this year, when higher-level officials
convene at the United Nations.
        The official refused to say if any action would be
largely symbolic or carry real economic weight....
Mullahs Increase Repressive Measures in Iran, Israeli
Radio, September 11

        Officials of the Islamic government announced that
they will increase the number of Ashura garrisons in
Tehran and will further reinforce and equip them.
        The Ashura garrisons are the special commando
forces of the Revolutionary Guards and Basiji Militia forces
established for rapid confrontation and suppression of any
incidents of agitation and unrest that has potential of
shaking the regime's foundations....


Beijing's Women Conference Dangerous to Mullahs, State-
run Radio Tehran, September 11

        The head of Organization of Islamic Culture and
Communications ... criticized the dubious movements of
the West in the International Women Conference in
Beijing.  According to our corespondent in Beijing,
Hojatolislam Taskhiri issued a statement yesterday in
Beijing, describing the purpose of these movements to be
the destruction of the ethical, religious and spiritual
symbols in the human society.
        He emphasized that the Islamic Republic's
delegation to the conference has seriously ... confronted
this issue.
        Taskhiri called the trend of the World Women
Conference as dangerous....


Israel Assails South Africa Over Nuclear Deal, Reuters,
September 11

        JERUSALEM - Israel assailed South Africa Monday
over its nuclear deal with Iran, the Jewish state's archfoe,
on the eve of a visit by South African Foreign Minister
Alfred Nzo.
        Nzo said last month that South Africa's department
of energy had concluded a nuclear technology deal with
Iran for peaceful purposes....
        In a press briefing ahead of Nzo's visit, Israeli
foreign ministry official Zvi Mazael accused South Africa
of breaking a U.S.-imposed trade ban on Iran.
        " ... It is a violation of the American embargo. We
will explain the issue of terrorism and of weapons of mass
destruction in this connection," said Mazael....
        Nzo, the highest South African official to visit since
President Nelson Mandela's government took office in
1994, is due in Israel Tuesday. He will meet Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation
Organization leader Yasser Arafat....