BRIEF ON IRAN No. 346 Friday, February 9, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Khamenei Says Israel is an Artificial State, Reuters, February 8 TEHRAN - Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday that Israel was an artificial state and that Tehran's opposition to it was the basis of Western enmity towards the Islamic republic. "The government and the people of Iran believe that the existence of Israel is false and artificial," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted by state-run Tehran radio as saying. "In fact, there is no nation called Israel, rather Zionist leaders, acting solely on racism, have gathered some people from around the world and set up a made-to-order state in order to occupy Palestine," Khamenei was quoted by the radio as saying. "The opposition of the Iranian government and people to what is under way in the Middle East under the guise of peace (is) the basis of the enmity by Arrogance (the West) against the Islamic state (Iran)," Khamenei told a gathering of Air Force commanders and personnel on the occasion of Iran's Air Force Day. "We believe that what is under way in the Middle East is not peace in its true sense, but an accord to oppress a nation (Palestinians)," he said.... Iran has condemned the peace agreements between Israel and the PLO as a sell-out, but said it only gave political support to Islamic Palestinian groups opposing the accords.... Iranian Minister to Visit Russia, United Press International, February 8 MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov has invited his Iranian counterpart to visit Moscow next month, the Itar- Tass news agency reported Thursday.... The meeting will be the first for Velayati and Primakov since Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed the Middle East expert to replace a more Western-oriented Andrei Kozyrev as foreign minister last month. Western observers have expressed fears that with Primakov as top diplomat, Russia will seek a political or even military alliance with Iran and other nations considered rogue states by the West.... FEATURE NCR's Interim Session The National Council of Resistance of Iran held its interim session for two days during the last week of January. The NCR released a statement about the issues discussed in the session. Excerpts follow: The looming Majlis elections have aggravated the clerical regime's conflicts and internal disputes. Increasingly weakened, the dominant faction is trying to eliminate its rival factions from the scene. Khamenei and his loyalists find the only way to preserve their dominance in further monopolization of power. By adding to the authority of the Council of Guardians, the ruling faction is making every effort to get rid of, and impose more and more restrictions on, its internal rivals. Though in dire need of putting up a show of democracy for external consumption, the Khomeini regime has nevertheless been forced to exert pressure and impose restrictions, even on its partners within the government, in the preliminary stage of the elections. Regardless of the outcome, this elections will ultimately weaken the entire regime and escalate its internal crises. Much of the existing evidence suggests that the election farce will solidify the ruling faction's hold and eliminate or undermine the competing faction in the Majlis. Such a development will exacerbate the conflicts between Khamenei and the mullahs in Qom's seminaries. Even if the dominant faction fails to sweep aside its rivals, the outcome will not ease any of the brewing schisms and feuding within the regime as a whole. Looking to the Resistance and its growing stature as the source of all of its difficulties and crises, the mullahs have spared no effort in recent months to strike the Resistance with military blows and plot conspiracies against it in the international arena. Especially after the trip to Norway of the Resistance's President-elect, the regime's Ministry of Intelligence spent enormous sums and devoted tremendous time and energy to accuse the Resistance movement of "violations of human rights." It thus unleashed a major smear campaign through its agents of Ministry of Intelligence disguised as former members of the Mojahedin. It also tried to intimidate the Resistance's sympathizers and prevent their moral and material support for the movement. These conspiracies display the extent of the regime's desperation and its deadly impasse in the face of the Resistance's remarkable advances in recent months.