BRIEF ON IRAN
BOI 370, Friday, March 15, 1996

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



Mullahs' Visible Hands In Terrorism, The Washington Times, March 14

        Iran's terrorist program has several targets. One target is Israel
and the concomitant Middle East peace process.... A second target is, of
course, the United States.  The third target is rarely mentioned:
Tehran's war against Iranian exiles living in Western Europe.
        Between the anti-shah revolution in 1979, there have been
almost 200 "operations" against Iranian exiles who seek overthrow of
the theocratic regime. "Operations" is a broad category....
        This report comes from the National Council of Resistance of Iran
headquartered in Paris. There is no way of independently confirming
the report but past disclosures by the Council have been deemed fairly
reliable....
        According to the Council, agents of the Iranian Ministry of
Intelligence have threatened some 3,000 Iranian expatriates with
reprisals if they do not denounce the Council.
        ... According to the Council, German prosecutors have established
the personal involvement of the Mullah Ali Fallahian, minister of
intelligence, in the 1992 assassination of four expatriates in Berlin.
        Last Feb. 2, an Iranian was kidnapped near Bonn, Germany, by
four Tehran agents, taken to what is called a "safe house," and tortured
for two days....
        On Feb. 20, Zahra Rajabi, an official of the Resistance Council and
a sympathizer, Abdol-Ali Moradi, were assassinated in Turkey.  Mrs.
Rajabi was visiting Turkey with a Resistance delegation to investigate
living conditions of Iranian refugees in that country and provide some
assistance to them....
        Earlier this month, March 2, two Iranian clergymen of the Sunni
persuasion were assassinated in Karachi; Pakistan... On March 7,
another member of the Resistance was shot and killed in central
Baghdad.  He was the sixth such victim in Baghdad since May 1995....
        The Iranian Parliament ratified legislation two years ago
legalizing punitive actions of overseas dissidents "who conspire against
Islam."  Thereafter, a planning session of the Iranian National Security
Council followed on Oct. 28, 1995, chaired by Rafsanjani, which,
according to the Council, organized an all-out campaign [against]
dissidents in Western Europe....


Sudan Gets Iran's Support to Keep Terrorists from U.N., The
Washington Times, March 13

        Iran is working covertly with Sudan to avoid a U.N. resolution
calling for Khartoum to surrender three Egyptian terrorists it is
believed to be harboring.
        The terrorists are wanted by Ethiopia for their suspected role in
the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last
year at a summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
        According to U.S. intelligence sources, Iran last month urged
Sudan to carry out a scheme to avoid the U.N. demand made in a
Security Council resolution, to turn over the terrorists.
        U.S. officials said the intelligence information about the plot is a
clear sign of Iran's continuing role in sponsoring terrorism and its
cooperation in turning Sudan into a logistical and financial center for
international terrorism....
        A Pentagon official said Iranian Revolutionary Guards - Islamic
shock troops - are very active in Sudan and southern Lebanon as
terrorist trainers and advisers...


An Iranian Foothold in the Balkans, U.S. News & World Report, March
11

        ...  There is mounting evidence that a wartime alliance of
necessity between Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic's ruling political
party and Iran - tacitly encouraged by Washington - has become a
solid fundamentalist foothold in Bosnia.  Tehran's ambitions pose a
potential threat to the safety of thousands of American troops and to
smooth implementation of the Dayton peace accords.  "We knew it was
bad," says a senior administration official of Iranian influence.  "But
it's much worse than we thought."...
        The Iranian paramilitary trainers are part of a covert Iranian
strategy that dismayed U.S. officials have seen before, in Lebanon and
Sudan.  Iran maintains the largest foreign diplomatic presence in
Sarajevo, some 40 officials by Washington's count... Washington is also
concerned about scores of Bosnians who have traveled to Iran for
intensive paramilitary and intelligence training and then returned
home...
        What's more, key government officials and members of
Izetbegovic's party - including Omar Behmen, the Bosnian ambassador
to Iran, and Hasan Cengic, the deputy commander of Army - have
string connections with Tehran...


Senate Votes to Deny Bosnia Aid Unless Iranians Leave, Dow Jones
News, March 14

        Approving amendments proposed by Republican presidential
candidate Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kansas, the Senate has voted to put
restrictions on $200 million in U.S. aid to Bosnia.
        The provisions, approved late yesterday by a voice vote, would
include the funding in a temporary spending bill but they require
Bosnian officials to stop sharing intelligence with Iran....


Iran Vows to Hold Rally at Moslem Pilgrimage, Reuters, March 13

        TEHRAN - Iran has vowed that its pilgrims will defy a Saudi ban
and hold a rally to denounce the United States and Israel at the
Moslem haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in April, Tehran radio said on
Thursday....