BRIEF ON IRAN No. 320 Tuesday, January 2, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iranian Government Calls for Anti-U.S. Demonstration, Reuters, January 1, 1996 TEHRAN - An influential Iranian state organization called for a demonstration in Tehran on Tuesday to protest moves in the U.S. Congress to fund a covert action plan against the Iranian government. The Islamic Propagation Organization (IPO), in a statement quoted by Tehran radio on Monday, called on people to "march to the United Nations building, chanting 'Death to America' to condemn the U.S. plot and the silence of world bodies..."... Iran Lawmakers Pledge 'Death to the U.S.', The Washington Times, January 1, 1996 TEHRAN - Iranian deputies chanting "Death to the U.S." supported a move in parliament yesterday to set up a special fund to fight American "conspiracies" against Islamic countries, the Iranian News Agency IRNA said. IRNA said parliament speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri urged deputies to work on a special budget for the information ministry to tackle what he called "U.S. conspiracies against Islamic countries, Iran in particular." Tjhe agency said his remark were "met with enthusiastic welcome of more than 200 deputies who responded by chanting 'Death to the US.'" Iran Reacts to Syrian Peace Talks, Reuters, December 30, 1995 TEHRAN - Iran announced on Saturday it had scrapped a visit to Syria by its first vice-president only three days before it was due to take place.... Iran is concerned about Syria's resumption of peace talks with Israel this month and Tehran has condemned a communiqué signed this week by Syria backing the United Arab Emirates in a dispute with Iran over some Gulf islands.... Iran has been concerned about the effect Syria's latest peace moves with Israel could have for its Shi'ite ally, the Hizbollah (Party of God) guerrilla group in Lebanon, diplomats say.... Iran Court Fighting West Influence Charts Activity, Reuters, December 30, 1995 TEHRAN - A court complex set up in Iran in October to counter Western cultural influences has ordered more than 150 people held on pornography, alcohol smuggling and other charges, newspapers said on Saturday. The head of the Qoddusi Judicial Complex in Tehran, identified only as Kazemi, said members of one network had "corrupted high school girls and boys into indulging in illegitimate relations," the daily Ettelaat reported. The reports did not give details of the pornography or illegitimate relations referred to. Under Iran's Islamic rules of behavior, unsupervised contact between unmarried men and women is strictly forbidden. Only state-authorized films and music are allowed, but there is a large black market in music cassettes and videotapes of films from the West, or by Iranian artists living in the United States and Europe. The complex, which currently has seven courts, is to be doubled in size to 15 courts, Kazemi said.... Front Line Targets for Global Terrorism, The Washington Times, December 29, 1995 MANAMA, Bahrain -... For this "peaceful" place remains a front- line target state when it comes to Iran's Islamic revolution. The tactics and rhetoric have changed since the 1980s, when the Khomeini regime was busy trying directly to overthrow the popular emir of Bahrain. But the small and prosperous Gulf states are still prey to their big neighbor.... Because of setbacks in the '80s in spreading the Iranian Islamic revolution, Iran has now separated the government from the religious/ revolutionary attempt to overthrow these governments. "The revolution" now comes out of the Shi'a religious center in Qum, which brings Bahraini Shi'ites to Qum to be "trained." Then they work through acknowledged Iranian-backed terrorist groups such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon. And when even Radio Tehran is used to spread the revolution overtly, the Iranian government simply washes its hands of the bothersome matter, saying that "the radio is an independent body."... It may well be that Saudi Arabia is the real target of the Iranian-Sudanese-Algerian revolutionary and terrorist axis. After November's bombing, that analysis looks even more probable. Even so, the "road to Riyadh" will have to go through Manama as the Arab saga moves on, its imperatives unfulfilled.