BRIEF  ON  IRAN, No. 272
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        Friday, October 13, 1995



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC
20007


Rafsanjani: U.S. Ties Unlikely to Heal, United Press
International, October 12

        DHAKA - Iranian President Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani dismissed Thursday any chance the
Islamic republic's relations with the United States
will improve in the near future.
        "Relations with the United States have
worsened, I do not see any bright  horizon in our
relations", Rafsanjani told reporters on the third day
of a  four-day visit to Bangladesh.
        He said he did not foresee resumption of
diplomatic ties with  Washington in the near future....
        Rafsanjani has been on a diplomatic offensive
in recent months,  following up his India visit earlier
this year with trips to the Philippines and  Vietnam
prior to coming to Bangladesh.
        He denied the diplomatic activity was a
response to isolation forced by  the embargo....


Iran Sanctions, Voice of America, October 11

        The Clinton administration says its trade
embargo on Iran is hurting that nation's economy --
but unless America's allies take similar steps, the
sanctions will have little effect in the long run....
        Four months after the United States cut off
trade and investment with Iran, officials say the
sanctions are squeezing the country's economy. At a
Senate hearing (Wednesday) Undersecretary of State
Peter Tarnoff said Iran's government is lacking hard
currency and facing a shortfall in oil revenue....
        But officials acknowledge American sanctions
alone are not enough....
        Senate banking committee chairman Al
D'Amato has called for a secondary boycott on
foreign firms doing business with Iran. However, the
administration opposes the plan and the senator says
he will not seek a vote without more consultations....


Mullahs' Agents on Rampage, Reuters, Oct. 12

        TEHRAN - Hundreds of Iranian Moslem
militants have clashed with supporters of a
controversial Islamic philosopher and stopped him
from speaking in Tehran, newspapers and residents
said on Thursday.
        Chanting slogans against author Abdolkarim
Sorush, the militants forced their way into a Tehran
university hall where the speech was to be held on
Wednesday evening, the daily Salam said.
        "Death to opponents of Velayat-e Faghih," they
chanted, accusing Sorush of opposing the basic tenet
in Iran's system of religious government which gives
absolute power to the country's spiritual leader....
        Militant chants of "Hizbollah is awake," were
countered by the students who chanted "Death to
fascists," Salam said....
        Hizbollah groups have increased their activities
in recent months, holding marches and claiming an
arson attack in August on the offices of the
publishers of a book deemed immoral.
        Senior Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and hardline
newspapers have backed Hizbollah actions, including
the arson attack....
        In parliament, deputy Mohsen Kuhkan said on
Wednesday the people might act against a monthly
magazine that had published an article criticizing the
Velayat-e Faghih principle.
        The statement appeared to be a thinly veiled
threat against the pro-Sorush journal Kyan, an
Iranian journalist said.


>From Cultural Icon to Freedom Fighter, The
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,
October/November 1995

        ... [Marzieh's] performing career actually began
in 1942 when, as a strikingly beautiful 17-year-old,
for 37 performances she played the role of Shirin in
a famous Iranian play, "Shirin and Farhad."
        "In the same year I was invited to cooperate
with Tehran radio," she recalls. "Three consecutive
weeks, every Friday from 12:30 to 1 p.m., I was on
the air, performing live. The public reacted
enthusiastically."
        Her instant success lead to a nightly radio
program from 10 to 11 p.m. that had perhaps the
largest audience in the country....
        Marzieh's enormous popularity led to
competition among composers, lyricists, and poets to
get her to perform their works. As a result, she still
has a repertoire of more than 1,000 songs, and her
unique style has influenced Persian music
permanently.
        All of those personal successes were played out
against a background of severe society tension,
however, as religious conservatives scorned music
and sought to humiliate actors and singers by calling
them corrupt....