BRIEF ON IRAN No. 271 Thursday, October 12, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 D'Amato Won't Bring Latest Iran Bill To Senate Floor, Dow Jones News, October 11 Sen. Alphonse D'Amato, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he won't bring his latest Iran bill to the Senate floor for vote until the Clinton Administration has ample time to pressure U.S. allies to tighten sanctions on Iran. ''I have no current plans to bring the bill to the Senate floor, but I will pursue additional co-sponsors,'' D'Amato told Administration officials at a hearing to review the U.S. embargo against Iran. D'Amato's latest bill imposes sanctions on foreigners or foreign companies that sell Iran petroleum products or related technology. D'Amato said he will give the Administration ample notice before he brings the bill to the Senate floor. But he predicted that if he brings the bill to the floor, it would pass. D'Amato indicated that he hopes the Administration will use his bill as leverage in their discussions with allies to help encourage other nations to join moves to economically pressure Iran. Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff told D'Amato that the State Department doesn't support his bill although it does agree that more should be done to isolate Iran.... >From Cultural Icon to Freedom Fighter, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1995 ... Marzieh, Iran's best-known female singer has performed for Britain's Queen Elizabeth. German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and once in Tehran and once in the United States for President Richard Nixon... "I want to ask the whole world to impose an economic and military embargo on this regime which is highly isolated in Iran." she told the Washington Report in an interview in the U.S. national capital. "The people of Iran are determined and have the means to bring about change. But the world has a responsibility to deprive this regime of the resources and the means of repression. "I want to emphasize that the sanctions imposed by President Clinton are in the interests of the people of Iran, and the rest of the world must join in a comprehensive embargo. They must support the aspirations of the people of Iran for democracy and for peace. The ruling mullahs have done nothing for the past 15 years but suppress the people, plunder their wealth and export terrorism, fundamentalism and chaos to keep themselves in power. It is only the ruling clergy and their associates who are benefiting and the rest of the 66 million Iranians are living in poverty and discontent." Such strong statements, on the record, are seldom heard from Iranians with relatives still living in Iran. In the case of Marzieh, the near-legendary "nightingale of Persia"... political opposition takes special courage. her husband, a banker, and her 18-year-old granddaughter still live in Tehran, as does her 42-year-old daughter, Hengameh Amini, a French trained architect. When Marzieh defected in August 1994, her daughter, who had never been involved in politics, was arrested and held incommunicado in prison. She was released from prison after Amnesty International and a number of world leaders generated a protest campaign, but she remains under house arrest. At present Marzieh depends upon her reputation as the Grande dame of Iranian music to protect her family as she pursues a schedule of international concerts sponsored by the Mojahedin-e- Khalq (People's Mojahedin), the largest organized Iranian opposition group. Asked about danger to her own person from a regime that has been accused by various European and Middle Eastern governments of assassinating its political enemies, particularly Mujahedin leaders, on their soil, Marzieh responds with optimism. "As far as the people of Iran are concerned, they are well- prepared to bring about the necessary change because of the anger they have expressed against the mullahs and through the Mojahedin," she explains. "it is a movement that consists of the elite-the most dedicated members of society and those who have sacrificed... I hope the rest of the world will get to know the quality and the dignity of the people of this resistance." There is little in the life of this one-time icon of Iranian art and culture to explain her conversion, at age 69, to a firebrand activist willing to risk everything for a political cause. In the world press she has been compared to Greece's Melina Mercouri or Britain's Vanessa Redgrave, both of whom put their beliefs ahead of successful careers and personal safety... (To Be Continued)