BRIEF ON IRAN No. 279 Tuesday, October 24, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 72 More Memberships Ratified for NCR, From Statement by NCR, October 23 Mrs. Mahvash Sepehri, Senior Secretary of the National Council of Resistance announced the names of 72 new members for the Council. They include 26 members of the faculty of education, 23 engineers and experts and 23 specialists and graduates from various universities in Iran and other countries.... In the interim session, September 23 to 25, the NCR members unanimously voted in favor of the need to expand the Council in order to adapt its structure to "the comprehensive advancements of the sole independent and democratic alternative during the two years following the election of the President for the transitional period after the overthrow of the mullahs' regime.".... Mullahs Absurd Lies on the Shooting in Argentina, Associated Press, October 23 TEHRAN - The English-language Tehran Times claimed Hassanali Rajabi Yazdi, the Iranian charge d'affairs, was shot in a joint operation between Israel and the opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq. Both Israel and Mujahedeen denied the charge.... Mujahedeen, in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cyprus, dismissed charges of its involvement in the shooting as baseless and absurd. Iran was suspected of being behind the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 people, and the July 1994 bombing of the Jewish center there, which left nearly 100 dead.... Mullahs' Deceitful Attempt in New York to Curb U.S. Sanctions, Iran Zamin News Agency, October 23 The mullahs' regime has made efforts inside the United States to curb the sanctions against Iran. In its attempt, Tehran's regime has deceitfully tried to utilize Iranian businessmen in undermining the sanctions. On October 18 at the invitation of Hooshang Amirahmadi, a Rutgers University professor, and a senior official of regime's Mostaza'afan Foundation in New York, few Iranian businessmen were gathered. Amirahmadi frequently travels to Iran and organizes activities in the U.S. in favor of the Khomeini regime. In this meeting he emphasized that Iranian businessmen should lobby in the U.S. Congress in order to lift the U.S. sanctions and restore trade relations with Khomeini regime. The audience were advised to disguise their activities under a name of some association in defense of Iranian businessmen in U.S.... Mullahs' Gesture at Their Expansionist Interests, Agence France Presse, October 22 A high ranking Iranian official rejected the legitimacy of Republic of Azerbaijan that has emerged from the demise of former Soviet Union and emphasized that "history has never recognized a country named Azerbaijan." Ali Abdolizadeh, governor of [Iran's] East Azerbaijan province [northwestern Iran] in an interview with weekly Keyhan Havai'i said "regions and provinces that are called Azerbaijan, have always been under Iran's sovereignty." This Iranian official, on behalf of other leaders, accused Baku of "waging a campaign against Iran." According to him a state-run program in Azerbaijan had claimed that Iranian Azerbaijan must become an inseparable part of Republic of Azerbaijan. Abdolizadeh warned that "if this kind if claims started," Baku's leaders "would be the main losers."... Last March, the legitimacy of Republic of Azerbaijan was questioned by a member if Iranian parliament, but this time it was suggested by a representative of Iranian government. At the present there are tensions between Tehran and Baku, among them on extracting petroleum resources in the Caspian Sea... Chaos in Mullahs' Hospitals Claims Lives, Agence France Presse, October 18 In a main hospital in Tehran, six patients, including a 13-year- old boy, went into coma because they were administered carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. These patients who went to Khomeini Hospital for operations, while under anesthetics, were administered carbon-dioxide that was released from [supposedly] oxygen tubes....