BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        No. 337 Monday, January 29, 1996



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Turkey Stopped Iranian Arms for Lebanon Terrorists,
Reuters, Jan. 26

        JERUSALEM - Turkey several weeks ago seized an
Iranian arms shipment intended for Moslem Hizbollah
(Party of God) guerrillas in Lebanon, Israeli security
sources said on Friday.
        They confirmed an unsourced report by state-run
Israel Radio that Turkish authorities seized six trucks
loaded with arms intended for Hizbollah....
        On Wednesday Turkey's [Interior Minister] Unusan
said the seized cache included six anti-aircraft guns and
more than 1,600 mortar bombs. He said it came from
Iran on a risky overland route through the southeast
corner of Turkey to the Syrian border....


Tehran to Build Runway for Hizbollah Terrorists, Israeli
Radio, January 26

        Italian daily Corriere Della Sera reported that the
Lebanese terrorist group, Hizbollah, has pressed the
Iranian government to build an airplane landing strip
near Beirut in order for the Hizbollah to directly receive
weapons and financial support from Iran....
        According to Corriere Della Sera Mohsen Reza'i,
commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has
accepted the Hizbollah's request.


Tehran Magazine Banned, Editor to Be Lashed and Jailed,
Associated Press, January 27

        TEHRAN - A court has sentenced the director of a
monthly magazine to six months in prison and 35 lashes
for insulting Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei.
        Abbas Maroufi also was banned for two years from
practicing journalism, the official Islamic Republic News
Agency and several newspapers reported Saturday.
        The publication license of his monthly magazine,
Gardoon, was canceled, effectively shutting it down....


Russia Builds Nuclear Power Plant for Mullahs,
Associated Press, January 26

        MOSCOW - Russian scientists have completed the
technical inspection needed to begin construction of an
Iranian nuclear power plant opposed by the United
States, a news agency reported today.
        Russian officials have said they may sell Iran as
many as four nuclear reactors for the plant, located in
the city of Bushehr in southwestern Iran.
        The United States has strongly denounced the
project, contending that Iran could use the technology to
develop nuclear weapons....
        Russian nuclear workers are currently dismantling
the plant, Georgy Kaurov, a spokesman for the Atomic
Energy Ministry, told the Interfax news agency.
        In addition to a $800 million construction contract,
Russia has signed a deal to provide Bushehr with $30
million of fuel between 2001 and 2011, and has agreed
to take back spent fuel for reprocessing.
        About 200 Russian scientists have been in Iran
doing site work and research. Construction is expected to
last 4 1/2 years.


Gingrich Says Tehran Supports Terrorism, White House
to Raise Sanctions Against Tehran, Reuters, January 26

        ATLANTA - House Speaker Newt Gingrich declined
to comment Friday on a New York Times article linking
him to an alleged $18 million covert U.S. plan aimed at
altering the nature of the government of Iran....
        Gingrich's desire for a covert operation against Iran
became public in October...
        The 52-year-old former history professor says the
Iranian government supports state terrorism and is
seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction as well
as plotting the elimination of Israel and threatening
world oil supplies....
        Meanwhile, the White House, concerned about a
military build-up in Iran, was drafting plans to raise
sanctions on Tehran that would include banning U.S.
firms from buying its oil, according to administration
officials.


German Prosecutors Investigate Iranian Spy Chief for
Terrorism Charges, Reuters, Jan. 26

        BONN - German prosecutors are investigating
possible links between Iran's intelligence minister and
the killing of four exiled Kurds in an inquiry that could
lead to a warrant for his arrest, a spokesman said on
Friday.
        Rolf Hannich, spokesman for the Federal
Prosecutors' Office, said that the investigation of Ali
Fallahiyan was prompted by allegations that Tehran had
ordered five suspected Iranian agents to kill the Kurdish
activists in Berlin in 1992.
        The five are now on trial for murder.
        "The (trial's) evidence indicates that it was a deed
steered by an intelligence agency. That's why we
launched an investigation into the Iranian intelligence
minister in November," Hannich told Reuters....