BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 345
        Thursday, February 8, 1996


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


Iran Nuclear Power Plans Include 80 Projects-Paper, Reuters,
February 7

        TEHRAN - Iran is working on 80 projects in the field of
nuclear power plants construction, a newspaper said on
Wednesday.
        "A total of 80 projects related to building and completing
atomic power plants are under way to provide the country's
electricity needs by using atomic energy," the daily Salam said.
        The newspaper, quoting the Iranian news agency IRNA,
said the projects were in the fields of civil, mechanical and
electrical engineering and had advanced 17.86 percent in the
first six months of the Iranian year that began on March 21,
1995.
        It said the projects were towards the construction of a
nuclear power station in Bushehr and an "Esteqlal
(Independence) atomic power plant."...
        Iran has an $800 million contract with Russia to complete
a nuclear power plant in its Gulf port city of Bushehr.
        Washington has opposed the Bushehr deal, saying Tehran
might use the technology to develop nuclear weapons....


Sen. D'Amato Warns Broken Hill Against Pursuing Iran, Dow
Jones News, February 7

        WASHINGTON - Senate Banking Committee Chairman
Alfonse D'Amato warned Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Co.
(BHP) against rushing to complete negotiations with Tehran to
build a natural gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan....
        In a letter to Broken Hill's chairman of directors, B.T.
Loton, D'Amato suggested that Congress apply the bill
retroactively if Broken Hill signs a deal before it becomes law.
        "We in Congress view any business deal that provides Iran
with the hard currency to develop its energy sector as a direct
threat to U.S. national security because such deals enhance the
regime's financial resources, enabling it to finance its ongoing
nuclear programs and terrorist networks aimed at the U.S. and
its allies," D'Amato said in the letter.
        Last week, Dow Jones reported that Broken Hill was
negotiating with Tehran to build the gas pipeline from Iran to
Pakistan. The company's spokesman denied that any deal had
been completed....


A Sunni Minority Leader Found Dead after His Arrest, BBC
Radio, Feb. 6

        The body of Molavi Ahmad Sayyad, a Sunni leader in the
southern region of Iran,  was found along a road in the city of
Bandar-Abbas several days after he was arrested by the
officials.
        He was arrested after his return from the United Arab
Emirates.
        A BBC reporter says that the killing of Molavi Ahmad
Sayyad has caused a great deal of anger among the Sunni
minority population of Iran....


Tehran's Non-oil Exports Decline Further, Radio France, February
6

        Iran's non-oil exports decreased by 25% in the first 10
months of this  year compared to the same period last year.
        According to the director of Iran's customs, the exports
decline will reach the 30% mark by the end of the current
Iranian year [March 20].
        Iran's non-oil exports in the 10 months period reached
$2.7 billion and is expected to reach $3.2 billion according to the
customs director. Last year's non-oil exports were valued at
$4.5 billion.


Labor Strikes, Iran Zamin, February 5

        Revolutionary Guards and Bassij forces entered a canned
food factory in Behshahr (northern Mazandaran province), to
force the workers into ending their strike. The workers resisted
such intervention and clashed with the Guards, who opened fire
on them, seriously wounding two workers. Eye-witnesses said
the Guards' prevention of the transfer of the wounded to the
hospital led to the deaths of some of the wounded.
        The workers' strike in Behshahr's canned food  factory
began on January 8 to protest low wages and the factory
officials' disregard of their repeated grievances.