BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        No. 350
        Thursday, February 15, 1996



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Opposition Group Says Iran Executes Three Members,
Reuters, February 14

        NICOSIA - An Iranian opposition statement said on
Wednesday three members of the Mujahideen Khalq
group -- a woman and two men -- had been executed in
Iran.
        Azar Hassani, 31, her brother Alireza Hassani, 36,
and their cousin Sadeq Hassani were executed in two
prisons in western Iran, said the National Council of
Resistance of Iran...
        The Mujahideen Khalq, the main group fighting to
overthrow the Tehran government, has its headquarters
in Baghdad and a tank-equipped army in several camps
close to the Iranian border.


Russian Military Sales to Iran Seen Growing-Agency,
Reuters, February 14

        MOSCOW - Russian military-related exports to Iran
make up more than 85 percent of all Moscow's supplies
to the Gulf state and they are likely to increase, Interfax
news agency quoted an unnamed government source as
saying.
        A foreign trade ministry spokeswoman confirmed
figures in the Interfax report which said Iran was
preparing to buy $1 billion of military-related equipment
in the next two years.
        Exports to Iran of "technical production and special
property" -- a term used for military equipment -- could
total $4 billion over the next decade, spokeswoman
Tatyana Aristarkhova confirmed.
        She said the figures were from a memo written
after a visit by Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Davydov, who
is also trade minister, to Iran in December.
        Transfer of such exports totaled $437 million in
1994, including $104 million in military technology and
arms and $333 million in equipment and services,
Interfax said.
        "They (military-related exports) already exceed 85
percent of all supplies to Iran and have a tendency to
grow," the agency quoted its source as saying.
        "Tehran said at the end of last year it was prepared
to increase purchases of technical production and special
property in Russia to $1 billion in the next one or two
years."
        Moscow has also agreed a $800 million contract
with Iran to complete a nuclear power plant in the Gulf
port city of Bushehr which the United States fears could
help Tehran build atomic weapons. Moscow denies the
U.S. charges....


Mullahs' Secret Nuclear Plants, Radio Israel, February 13

        According to a Jordanian weekly, the Islamic
government has several secret nuclear plants in addition
to the 7 nuclear plants currently under construction.
        Quoting Washington's informed sources, the
Amman-based weekly, Akhbar Al-Ousbou, said that Iran
had a large amount of Uranium estimated to be
approximately 15 tons.


Iran Papers Hail Rushdie Edict on Anniversary, Reuters,
February 14

        TEHRAN - Several Iranian dailies hailed on
Wednesday the death order against British author Salman
Rushdie in low-key observance of the seventh
anniversary of the edict....
        Iran's late leader Khomeini passed a fatwa, or
religious edict, on Rushdie on February 14, 1989,
condemning the Indian- born author to death for alleged
blasphemy against Islam in his novel "The Satanic
Verses."
        The book's Japanese translator was murdered, the
Italian translator was assaulted and the book's Norwegian
publisher was shot, but survived....
        The English-language Tehran Times, voicing Iran's
official stand on the edict, said it "is unalterable because
it is an Islamic ruling, i.e., in accordance with Islamic
teachings no one is qualified to alter the decree."...
        The EU on Tuesday said it was renewing efforts to
persuade Iran to drop the death order and demanded
that Tehran abide by international law....
        The United States has been increasing pressure on
Iran since imposing a trade and investment ban against it
in June. It accuses Tehran of sponsoring terrorism and
seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies both
charges.


Kyrgyz Moslems Ready to Kill Rushdie, Reuters, February
14

        NICOSIA - A Kyrgyz Islamic religious leader was
quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA as
saying on Wednesday that Moslems in the Central Asian
republic were ready to kill British author Salman Rushdie
for blaspheming Islam.
        The agency quoted Kimsanbay Abdrakhmanov,
identified as Kyrgyzstan's top Moslem cleric, saying
...Kyrgyz Moslems are ready to carry out this divine
decree against the apostate (Rushdie)."...