BRIEF ON IRAN
No. 357
Tuesday, February 27, 1996

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



National Council of Resistance Condemns Explosions in Israel,
Statement by NCR, February 26

        The National Council of Resistance of Iran condemns the terrorist
explosions in Jerusalem and Ashkelon and the killing of innocent
people. The NCR extends its condolences to the families of the victims.
        These crimes only serve the purposes of the mullahs' religious,
terrorist dictatorship which is the principal source of export of
fundamentalism and terrorism and the prime enemy of the Middle
East peace process.


Iran Praises Terrorist Acts as the Only Way for Palestinians, Reuters,
February 26

        TEHRAN - Iran's state-run radio said on Monday the bomb blasts
which killed 25 people in Israel on Sunday showed Palestinians saw
armed struggle as the only way to gain back their territories.
        "The sharpening of the expansionist policies of the Zionist
regime...have strengthened the belief among Palestinians that boosting
armed struggle is the only way to liberate the occupied territories,"
Tehran radio said in a commentary on the bombings....
        These actions also demonstrate "the power of initiative of the
Islamic intifada (uprising) in deciding the final fate of Palestine," it
added....
        Iran has condemned peace agreements between Israel and the
PLO as a sellout, but has said it only gave political support to groups
opposing the accords.
Iranian Government Harasses Families of Dissidents, Iran Zamin News
Agency, February 26

        In recent months, Iranian regime has subjected Iranian asylum-
seekers in the Netherlands to severe psychological pressures.
        According to the Dutch news agency (ANP), Iranian authorities
routinely abuse the parents of refugees to impose this pressure.  The
regime arrests relatives of asylum-seekers inside Iran and forces
them to ask the expatriates to return to Iran.
        The news agency added this situation has occurred for many
Iranians...


The Elections Ploy Results in Physical War Among Mullahs, Iran Zamin
News Agency, February 26

        According to Agence France Presse, on Monday, state-run daily
Jomhuri Eslami reported that during confrontations between
supporters of competing candidates, in Khamam region of Gilan
Province [northern Iran] one was killed and several others were
injured.
        According to the same report, also in Zabul in Sistan and
Baluchestan Province [eastern Iran] one person was injured by
gunshot...


Clerics Threatened by Themselves and Public Resistance, state-run
radio, February 24

[In This Friday sermon, mullah Zarandi, the representative of
Khamenei in Western Province of Kermanshah acknowledged the
threats posed to the clerical regime within their own ranks]

        "... [People] be awake that you are in a crucial situation and the
enemy is  clever and awake....
        Brothers, citizens, wake up.  Do not walk with your mal-veiled
wife in the street...  There are some that are sabotaging...
        We have many AAlem(s) [high-ranking clerics] that are now
working against the revolution.  Their pens are serving the arrogant
[Western] powers.  We wish that God shall break their pens.  Their
tongues are serving the arrogant world.  God shall make them dumb....
        Elect those whose backgrounds you have studied... How are they
now... what are their believes..."


Iran Says Exchange Rate Unchanged Until March 97, Reuters, February
26

        TEHRAN - Iran will keep its fixed rate of exchange of 3,000 rials
to the dollar unchanged until March 1997, a senior Iranian official said
in remarks published on Monday....
        Iran in May set the new rate along with tough rules banning free
exchange dealings and requiring exporters to exchange their hard cash
income at the official rate in state banks....
        But the currency restrictions severely curbed the private sector's
incentive to export, causing a fall in Iran's non-oil exports dominated
by carpets and pistachios.
        Nourbakhsh [director of Central Bank] said non-oil exports in the
first nine months of the current Iranian year, which started on March
21, stood at $2.6 billion, down by more than 20 percent since last
year....