BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran      No. 308
        Thursday, December  7, 1995



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Rafsanjani Calls for Clampdown on Regime's Opponents in
Administrative System, from a statement by NCR, Dec. 6

        In a message this morning, Rafsanjani, President of the
mullahs' religious, terrorist dictatorship, called for cracking
down on the regime's opponents in the country's administrative
system. He said: "The guardians of the system must... deal
decisively with those who do not conform to norms of Islamic
behavior."
        Just yesterday, the mullahs' Majlis adopted a law according
to which "the Guards Corps' Bassij Resistance force will set up
units of strugglers and pioneers of the students' Bassij in high
schools and junior high schools." This new suppressive body is
formed in a bid "to train and incorporate high school students
across the country in the 20-million-strong army... for an all out
defense of the Islamic Revolution."
        In recent months, besides holding frequent maneuvers by
the Bassij and the Guards Corps in many Iranian cities,
especially in provincial capitals, the Khomeini regime has passed
new suppressive laws.
        Rafsanjani's threats today and the adoption of these laws
reflect the daily escalation of popular dissent in all levels of
society, even within government employees and workers, in the
wake of the rapidly deteriorating economic conditions and the
persistence of repression and clampdown across the country.
They also attest the mullahs' extreme fear of escalating public
discontent, the outbreak of popular uprisings and the regime's
overthrow by the National Liberation Army of Iran.


Gore Says Tehran Guilty of State-sponsored Terrorism,
Associated Press, Dec. 5

        PRETORIA - ...South Africa ... imports the majority of its oil
from Iran and has resisted an American call for a worldwide
trade embargo against Iran.
        [Tuesday, at a news conference in South Africa, Vice
President Al] Gore condemned Iran for the "sin of state-
sponsored terrorism," but he refused to be drawn in on what he
thought South Africa should do about its reliance on Iranian oil.
        "In order to be effective, an embargo has to be
multilateral," was all Gore would say....


Iran's Threats to GCC Countries, United Press International,
December 5

        MUSCAT - ...Gulf Cooperation Council leaders also plan to
discuss threats perceived from Iran:
        … The UAE is a loggerhead over Iranian occupation of
three Gulf islands since 1970.
        Qatar played host last month for the first direct talks
between Iran and the UAE in more than two years, but the
parleys failed after Iranian officials refused to submit an agenda
for discussions at the foreign minister level.
        The UAE plans to take the dispute to the U.N.'s
International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
        … Bahrain has accused Iran of supporting a Shiite Muslim-
led opposition movement seeking to restore Bahrain's
Parliament.
        Opposition leaders were arrested in November last year,
resulting in clashes with police that continued until April. Two
officers and 12 activists were killed and hundreds of people
were arrested.
        … Saudi Arabia warned Iran last month to stop interfering
in Bahrain's affairs, saying any attack on Bahrain would be
considered an attack on the kingdom....


Tehran Scorns Fresh U.S. Oil Curbs, Reuters, Dec. 5

        TEHRAN - Iran on Tuesday poured scorn on U.S. plans to
tighten economic pressure by imposing a secondary boycott,
saying it would neither harm Tehran's petrochemical industry
nor restrict access to foreign technology....
        Earlier this year, Washington banned U.S. firms from trade
and investment in Iran.
        Now the U.S. Congress is due to discuss a bill to introduce
sanctions against companies from third countries that export oil-
related technology to Iran. The proposed curbs would ban
imports into the U.S. of such companies' products and forbid
American companies from doing business with them....


Tehran's Massive Cash Debt, Obstacle for Large-scale
Developments, Reuters, December 6

        TEHRAN - ...Like Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf oil states,
Iran has abundant and cheap reserves of oil and gas feedstocks
with which to fuel its chemical plants.
        Gulf states have used this cost advantage to become the
world's most profitable producers of basic plastics and chemical
building blocks such as polyethylene and polypropylene.
        But diplomats said Iran must pay an estimated $5 billion
in 1996 and a similar amount in 1997 on the country's
estimated $20 billion foreign debt, product of a surge in imports
and reconstruction after the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
        "They should manage (the 1996 repayments), but it will be
very tight," said a Western economist. "They will try like hell to
get through this period successfully."
        Iran says foreign debt settlement is under control but the
pressure leaves little money over for large-scale development....