BRIEF ON IRAN
No. 336
Friday, January 26, 1996

Representative Office of
3421 M Street NW #1032
Washington, DC 20007


Kurdish Delegation meets Rajavi, Weekly Iran Zamin, January 22

        NCR President Massoud Rajavi received a delegation representing
the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran - Revolutionary Leadership
(KDPI-R.L.) in Baghdad.
        Both parties stressed the need to overthrow the ruling
fundamentalists and establish democracy in Iran. They condemned
any form of rapprochement with the mullahs and denounced the
regime's interventions in Iraqi Kurdistan.
        The Kurdish delegation and the NCR President also reiterated the
need to observe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
tomorrow's Iran.


German Official Says Iran's Spies Killed Kurds, Reuters, January 25

        BERLIN - A top official from Germany's counter-intelligence
agency said on Thursday that agents from Iran's secret service were
sent to Germany to help assassinate three Kurdish opposition leaders
and their translator in 1992....
        At the Berlin trial of an Iranian and four Lebanese charged with
the murders, Klaus Gruenewald cited documents from the Federal
Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV) saying that Tehran had
been behind the attack.
        "The Iranian secret service sent a team from Tehran... which
coordinated with agents based in Berlin, gathered information and
finalized plans for the assassination attempt," Gruenewald told the
court.
        "According to a carefully calculated plan, the commando made
their getaway back to Iran," he said....
        Their trial on charges of carrying out the gangland-style killing
of three leaders of the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK-I)
and their translator started in October 1993....


Pro-Rafsanjani Officials Draw Fire in Iran, Reuters, January 25

        TEHRAN - Iranian conservatives have attacked senior
government officials who have urged voters to back the president's
policies in parliamentary elections in March, accusing them of abuse of
power....
        "The recent statement by a number of ministers and state
officials is an interference by part of the executive branch in the
affairs of the legislative branch," said Assadollah Badamchian, head of
a body that approves parties and associations, quoted by the Iran
daily on Thursday....
        The 16 officials broke ranks with the Shi'ite Moslem Combatant
Clergy Association (CCA), the main conservative group in parliament....
        The new group's statement departed from the common political
line in Iran that blames the country's problems on foreign powers and
focused instead on internal economic woes....
Rafsanjani Admits Division Among Leadership of the Cleric Rule, Iran
Zamin News Agency, January 25

        Following the statement by 16 ministers and their deputies in
Rafsanjani's government, he publicly backed them and confirmed the
division on top of the clerics' rule.
        "I was opposed to division in Combatant Clergymen's Society and
I still believe that we can curb this division," said Rafsanjani in
justifying the action of his officials.


Internal War for Power Escalates, Radio Israel, January 24

        ... Movahedi Savouji, a member of Majlis, in a speech said that
there is the possibility of non-confidence vote for Rafsanjani...
        It seems that 150 members of the parliament, most of whom are
clerics, support Nateq Nouri [Speaker of Majlis] and are opposing
Rafsanjani and his group....


Iran Says Syria-Israel Talks Will Not Succeed, Reuters, January 25

        TEHRAN - Iran's state-run radio said on Thursday the new round
of U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace talks between Syria and Israel near
Washington would not succeed....
        Tehran scrapped a visit to Damascus by its first vice-president
last month after Syria resumed peace talks with Israel and joined
Egypt and Gulf Arab states in backing the United Arab Emirates in its
dispute with Iran over some Gulf islands.