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....