BRIEF ON IRAN No. 359 Thursday, February 29, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iran Says Bombs In Israel Help Derail Peace Moves, Reuters, February 28 TEHRAN - Iran's state-run radio on Wednesday praised the twin suicide bombings that killed 25 people in Israel, suggesting the attacks would help derail the Middle East peace process. "These two anti-Zionist operations, carried out with exact planning in the run-up to the Zionist regime's (Israel) elections, have intensified the Zionists' internal dissensions and sharpened the disagreements between the ruling (Labor) party with the PLO," Tehran radio said in a commentary. The radio was referring to the bombings on Sunday that killed 25 people in Jerusalem and the port city of Ashkelon. The militant Islamic group Hamas said it carried out the attacks to avenge the killing last month of its master bomb- maker Yahya Ayyash.... Mullahs Vow Backing to Radical Palestinians in Syria, Reuters, February 28 DAMASCUS - Iran's First Vice-president Hassan Habibi met radical Palestinian leaders in Damascus on Wednesday and voiced continued backing for their fight against the Jewish state, a senior Palestinian official said.... Taher [spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] said that Ramadan Abdullah, secretary- general of the Islamic Jihad movement, and Mousa al-Alami, a member of the politburo of the militant Islamic group Hamas, were at the meeting at the Iranian embassy. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for attacks in Israel in which scores of Israelis have been killed since the signing of the PLO-Israeli deal in 1993. Hamas has said it was responsible for the two suicide bombs in Jerusalem and Ashkelon on Sunday, which killed 25 people.... Iran May Be Behind Counterfeit Dollars, Reuters, Feb. 27 NEW YORK - Iran may be behind millions of dollars of high-quality counterfeit U.S. currency, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The newspaper reports that senior administration officials suspect Iran may be printing millions of dollars worth of United States $100 bills with Syria sanctioning the distribution of the bills known as Superdollars or Supernotes. The notes may have been used by terrorist organizations although officials do not have enough evidence to make public accusations. The Secret Service has confiscated up to $10 million of the fake notes, the newspaper said.... The Superdollar first came to light in 1990 but more recently several new varieties of the bills have appeared in cities as far flung as Hong Kong and Moscow.... Iran's Foreign Policy: Kill Dissidents Abroad Tehran Uses Hit Squads as Vote-catchers The Sunday Telegraph February 25 [Continued from BOI 358] ... The Presence of terrorist hit squads in Europe also undermines recent suggestions made by the Iranian embassy in London, that Iran no longer intends to carry out the fatwa imposed against the author, Salman Rushdie, by the late Ayatollah Khomeini. "The murders in Turkey show that the regime in Iran is still actively promoting terrorism," said Hossein Abedini, spokesman for the NCRI in London. "Rafsanjani has ordered his hit squads to wipe out the regime's opponents throughout Europe - and that includes Britain." Evidence that Iran is intensifying terrorist operations in Europe was uncovered last week by NATO troops in Bosnia. They found a bomb factory in the outskirts of Sarajevo manned by three Iranian "advisors", one of whom was traveling on a diplomatic passport. Since then another nine Iranians have been arrested in central Bosnia. While Rafsanjani still has another year of his presidency to run, his supporters look set to take a hammering in the elections for the majlis (parliament) on March 8. All the indicators are that supporters of Ali Khamenei, Rafsanjani's main political rival and Iran's spiritual leader, will win the vast majority of the 270 seats, forcing Rafsanjani to adopt even harsher Islamic policies.... By ordering the murders of Iranian critics who have sought refuge in Europe, Rafsanjani is trying to prove his Islamic credentials to the electorate in the hope of winning votes.