BRIEF  ON  IRAN, No. 275
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        Wednesday, October 18, 1995



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Iran Plans 38 Wargames in Gulf, Reuters, October 17

        NICOSIA - The Iranian navy will hold 38 military
exercises in the Gulf during the next five months, the
Iranian news agency IRNA said on Tuesday.
        It quoted Iran's navy commander Admiral Ali
Shamkhani as saying the maneuvers would include a
joint one with Pakistan.
        Preparations had also been made for an exercise
with a regional state, which was not named.
        Iran had held a series of 19 exercises in the Gulf
since the beginning of the Iranian year in March 1995 to
boost the capability of its naval forces, Shamkhani added.


Destabilizing Force in the Region, Associated Press,
October 15

        Quoting the Arabic-language Al-Hayat Daily, the
Associated Press reported that the British Armed Forces
Minister accused Iran of doing mischief in the region.
        Al-Hayat quoted Nicholas Soames, speaking at the
headquarters of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi
Arabia's capital, as saying that Iran is a rigorously
destabilizing force in the region....


Israel Blasts Iran, Syria over Lebanon Attack, Reuters,
October 17

        JERUSALEM - Israel blasted Iran and Syria on
Tuesday, accusing them of encouraging Islamic guerrillas
who killed nine Israeli soldiers in Lebanon....
        Rabin's cabinet, after an emergency meeting, issued
a statement blasting Iran for directly aiding Hizbollah
and Syria for backing the group....


Rifkind: "Critical Dialogue" with Iran Not Working, BBC
World Service, [Translated Text], October 15

        "The critical dialogue is the policy of the European
Union.... It is not only Britain's policy.... This policy has
not been very effective, because as long as Iran ...
continues to threaten the life of a British citizen, there
cannot be any normal relations between the two
countries. Britain wants to make this clear for the
European Union and others...."


Russian Defense Minister to Visit Iran, Associated Press,
October 17

        MOSCOW - Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev
will visit Iran  later this year to discuss military
cooperation between the two countries,  officials said.
        Grachev has accepted an invitation made by the
Iranian defense minister  in Moscow last week, said Col.
Gen. Dmitry Kharchenko, deputy head of  the Russian
Armed Forces' General Staff....
        Moscow and Tehran signed a controversial $800
million contract last  January for Russian scientists to
complete construction of a nuclear power  plant in
Bushehr in western Iran.
        The U.S. has strongly denounced the project,
contending that Iran could  use the technology to develop
nuclear weapons. Moscow dismisses the  potential of the
project for military use and says Washington is trying to
muscle it out of the nuclear business.
Iran Parliament Passes Tough New Security Law, Reuters,
October 17

        TEHRAN - The Iranian parliament on Tuesday
approved the first part of a security law setting tough
penalties for offenses ranging from belonging to
subversive groups to spying, state-run Tehran radio
reported.
        The new law sets a penalty of two to 10 years in
prison for anyone, regardless of ideology, who forms or
leads a group of more than two members in Iran or
abroad with the aim of threatening the country's
security, the radio said.
        The new law applies in cases where the courts do
not find the defendant to be a "mohareb" -- one who
wages war on God -- for whom Islamic Sharia law sets
the death sentence, the radio added....
        According to one of the articles, attempts to
demoralize the armed forces and the police or cause
sedition or desertion could carry a sentence of up to 10
years in prison, in cases where the courts do not convict
the defendant as "mohareb," the radio said.
        Under another article, anyone passing confidential
information on Iran's domestic or foreign policies to
unauthorized persons will be punished with up to 10
years in jail.
        Anyone spying in Iran for a foreign state on a third
country could be jailed for up to five years.
        The penalty for belonging to an illegal opposition
group was set at up to five years in prison and taking
part in propaganda activity against Iran can carry up to a
year's jail sentence.
        The parliament will debate other articles of the
security law in the next few days in what deputies said
was a general review of Iran's Islamic penal code.