BRIEF ON IRAN
No. 323
Friday, January 5, 1996

Representative Office of
The National Council of Resistance of Iran
3421 M Street NW #1032
Washington, DC 20007



Iran Still a Global Threat, Agence France Presse, January 4

        MANAMMA, Bahrain - Douglas Hurd, former foreign minister of
Great Britain, said on Thursday that Iran remains a continuing threat
for the world.
        Douglas Hurd, who has been meting with Bahrain and Kuwaiti
authorities in past few weeks, said in a press conference that Iran
supported terrorist activities in Middle East and Africa and is abusing
religion for political objectives.


Iran Says U.S. Covert Plan Threatens World Order, Reuters, January 4

        TEHRAN - Iran warned on Thursday that no country in the world
would be safe if Washington was allowed to go ahead with a covert
action plan against Tehran.
        "If moves such as the (U.S.) actions against Iran become
prevalent in international relations, no country would be safe," state-
run Tehran radio said in a commentary.
        "If the...United Nations does not stop Washington's willful acts,
there is a risk that other states would also ignore international laws
and a kind of anarchy would become dominant in international
relations," the radio said.
        It was referring to reported moves in the U.S. Congress to set up
a $20 million covert action plan against Iran....


Mullahs' Closer Ties with Russia, Associated Press, December 27

        TEHRAN, Iran - Moscow will assist Iran's development of nuclear
power and continue to collaborate militarily, Russia's deputy prime
minister said during a visit Wednesday.
        The United States has been pressing Moscow to pull back from
Iran in an effort to isolate the country and force it toward a more
moderate track.
        But Russian deputy prime minister Oleg Davydov suggested
Wednesday that Moscow envisions warmer, rather than cooler,
relations with Tehran.
        In recent years, the Russians have sold Iran several billion
dollars of weapons systems and have promised to provide two nuclear
reactors for power stations under construction....
        Davydov, who arrived in Tehran earlier Wednesday for three
days of talks, did not elaborate on nuclear power and military
agreements with Iran.
        But he told the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency that Russia and
Iran will share resources in atomic, thermal and hydraulic power
engineering.
        New forms of cooperation also will be discussed, he said, despite
a U.S. ban on trade with Iran and new efforts by the U.S. Congress to
impose sanctions on foreign companies doing business with the Islamic
country....
        On Wednesday, Davydov and Iran's economics and finance
minister, Morteza Mohammad-Khan, also talked of improving
economic ties, Tehran Radio reported. The two countries are expected
to sign a 10-year economic cooperation agreement.


Kurdish Rebels Say Iran Kills Five Members in Iraq, Reuters, January 3

        NICOSIA - An Iranian rebel Kurdish group on Wednesday
accused Iran of killing five of its members and two other Kurds in
northern Iraq in the past week.
        The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, in a fax sent to
Reuters from its Paris office, gave the names of seven men it said were
killed in a mine explosion last Wednesday, and two armed attacks by
Iranian "terrorists" on Saturday and Monday.
        It said five of those killed were its members and the other two
were Iranian Kurdish refugees.
        It accused Tehran of ordering the raids before sending a team to
Kurdish-run north Iraq earlier this week to mediate between rival
Iraqi Kurdish groups....


Iran Officials Warn of High Smog Levels in Tehran, Reuters, January 1

        TEHRAN - Tehran city officials on Monday warned about
unusually high smog levels in the Iranian capital, urging citizens to
curb the use of cars and other sources of air pollution.
        "The concentration of these materials (toxic carbon monoxide,
lead and sulphur dioxide) in the city has reached levels several times
higher than the allowed amount and has put the people's health in
danger," Tehran radio said....
        Pollution levels in Tehran are among the worse in the Middle
East, particularly during winter months when the cold air hanging
over the city creates a thermal inversion that prevents car fumes from
dispersing....