BRIEF ON IRAN No. 331 Friday, January 19, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iran's Economy Encounters Another Turbulence, Agence France Presse, January 17 TEHRAN - Growing inflation, decline of industrial products, reduction in economic growth: with just a few months until the elections in Iran, the country's economy is facing yet another turbulence... During last December, prices of many food staples increased by 10% to 20%, causing serious criticism in media and Majlis. This is at the time when the parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 8, is not too distant. Last Tuesday, Isaa Kalantari, Minister of Agriculture, admitted that the increase in the price of rice, which is the Iranians' main food staple, "can not be tolerated by the people." According to daily Akhbar, the Central Bank has assessed that during the first 9 months of the Iranian calendar, the inflation rate was 64%. Many Iranian and foreign experts believe that this number is lower than its actual inflation rate of 100% this year.... The economic growth has been less than 2% in 1995 and 4.5% in 1994... 1996 is a critical year for the country's economy since it must repay most of the loans that Iran and its foreign financiers agreed to reschedule two years ago... Economically, 1996 and 1997 will be the toughest years for Iran. The country must pay $3-4 billion more than what it paid in 1995 for its debts, while, at best, Iran's oil export is not expected to be more than 1995 - $15.5 million. And the non-oil exports are also facing a free fall due to the policy of single exchange rate that has been implemented since eight months ago as a measure to curb the inflation... In Iran Smile Continues to be a Rarity, Dutch daily Trouw, January 9 ... Ayatollah Khomenini had said that in Islam there is no place for laughter and joke. Six years after his death and 16 years after the Islamic revolution, you can rarely find any one with a smile on his face. The war with Iraq has left hundreds of thousand dead and disabled as well as numerous economic problems for people... After Khomeini's death in 1989, the people's inability and disillusionment increased. It seems now that the people are awakening. They are reflecting on what the revolution has brought them and believe that they have paid a precious price for it... Iranian cities have become scenes of clashes [with the regime] which were unprecedented prior to Khomeini's death. People are drawn into these confrontations because of their daily struggle with [social and economic] hardships. The scope of their discontent and opposition against the regime is growing every day so much so that it has turned into a serious threat for the mullahs' rule. These changes are even more observed among the younger generation... Mullahs Resume Public Hanging, Agence France Presse, January 17 Iranian newspapers announced on Wednesday that two Iranians who were accused of killing a family of four, were hanged in Tehran. There were few years that no one was hanged in Tehran... ... The two men were hanged before thousands of passer byes after each received 74 lashes... Security forces had surrounded the Naarmak area, where the hangings took place. These men were 25 and 27 years old... PLIGHT OF CHILDREN Voice of Mojahed, January 12 - The roof of an elementary school in western Tehran collapsed, seriously wounding a number of students. The teacher suffered a blow to his head and fell into comma. IRNA, January 10 - Explosives left over from the war blew up in a border village near Khorramshahr in southwest Iran killing three boys, aged six and seven and a 16. Iranian Minister Threatens U.S. with Violence, state-run Jomhouri Islami, January 8 In a speech in Tehran, Ali Fallahian, the Minister of Intelligence and Security, warned the United States that his agents had reconnoitered the U.S installations and bases in the region.