BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 366
        Monday, March 11, 1996


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


EU Seeks Clear "No" to Terrorism from Iran, Reuters, March 10

        PALERMO, Sicily - The European Union called on Iran on
Sunday to condemn terrorism "once and for all" and said
Tehran's links with Europe could suffer if it did not change its
attitude.
        A statement setting out the EU's position on terrorism
and the Middle East after a meeting of foreign ministers said
they were deeply concerned at the absence of specific Iranian
condemnation of militant Moslem suicide bombings in Israel....
        It said an EU delegation would visit Tehran to emphasise
"that if the critical dialogue is worth continuing, it must show
some progress and convergence of views on such fundamental
issues as the Middle East peace process and terrorism."
        Italian Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli, who chaired the
informal meeting, said she believed EU countries should
review the dialogue if the Islamic government failed to
respond.
        British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind told reporters
he was doubtful anything could come from the visit to Tehran,
by an EU "troika" of senior officials from Italy, Spain and
Ireland, though the effort had to be made....
        EU countries, many with strong commercial ties to Iran,
have come under mounting pressure from Israel and the
United States to break all links with Tehran for its alleged
sponsorship of the militant group Hamas which is behind the
bombings....


Iran's Clerics Responsible for Terrorist Attacks-Arafat's Aides,
Radio France International, March 7
        Mahmoud Abbas, a senior aide to Yasser Arafat, said in
an interview with Jerisalem-based Ha'aretz,  that Iran is
responsible for the recent suicide bombings in Israel.
        In an interview published in today's Novel Observator,
Ahmad Teebi, another advisor to Yasser Arafat, accused Iran
of financing and supporting Palestinian terrorists and said that
the ultimate goal of Tehran's government is the destruction of
our Palestinian dream.


Mullahs' Foreign Minister Refuses to Condemn Bombings,
Associated Press, March 9

        PALERMO -...Washington has accused Iran of providing
financial and tactical support to international terrorists, a
charge Tehran denies.
        In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati
said the Middle East peace process was badly flawed, but he
blamed Israel's intransigence and avoided condemning the
suicide bombings in Israel that have killed 57 victims plus the
bombers since Feb. 25....


Gulf States, U.S. Slam Iran over Middle East Peace, Reuters,
March 10

        MANAMA - The United States and the Gulf Cooperation
Council on Sunday condemned Iran for what they called its
involvement in disrupting the Arab-Israeli peace process.
        "Participants stressed the need to respond effectively
against unacceptable Iranian positions with regard to the
Middle East peace process and the recent terrorist bombings,"
U.S. and Gulf officials said after two days of economic talks in
Bahrain....
        The GCC, which groups Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
Oman, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait, and the
U.S. teams also slammed Iran for its "interference in the
internal affairs of its neighbours." They did not elaborate....


Chinese Firms Supply Iran with Gas Factories, U.S. Says, The
Washington Post, March 8

        U.S. inteligence officials have concluded that companies
in China are providing Iran with several virtually complete
factories suited for making deadly poison gases, an act that
may violate a U.S. law as well as China's pledge to abide by a
global treaty banning such assistance, according to U.S.
officials....
        The influx of Chinese technology is helping to fuel what
one U.S. official described as "the most active chemical
weapons program" in the Third World. U.S. government
analysts say Iran's ambitious, long-term aim is to develop an
indegenous capability to produce each of the chemical
ingredients of powerful poison gases as well as to make all of
its own equipment to produce the finished weapons....
        Chinese officials have "said very little" so far in response
to U.S. complaints about its transactions with Iran, said one
officials....
        U.S. officials said certain sensitive "precursor" chemicals-
so name because they can be mixed to produce finished nerve
agents or other chemical ingredients of such agents-have been
sold directly by Chinese firms to Iranian organizations
affiliated with the military or the Revolutionary Guards....