BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        No. 373
        Wednesday, March 20, 1996



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007

On the Occasion of  the Iranian New Year, Nowrouz,
Brief on Iran
Wishes you a Happy and Successful New Year


Iranian Resistance Warns Against Tehran's Terrorist
Threats, from a statement by NCR, March 19

        Alarmed by the international consequences of the
warrant issued for the arrest of one of its top officials, the
mullahs' regime has openly resorted to terrorist threats
against the Government of Germany.
        The regime's council of ministers yesterday attempted
to scare Germany of "the dangers and risks" of the warrant
issued. The regime's ambassador, Mohammad Moussavian,
himself a key official in charge of export of terrorism, in an
interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine threatened
Germany with the "grave political and economic
consequences" in the relationship between the two
countries. He also expressed doubts in the benefits of the
critical dialogue and again threatened Europe with
terrorism.
        Such official positions are but open and
unprecedented indications of the regime's terrorist nature.
In a bid to evade justice, the mullahs take political and
economic relations hostage and try in this manner to
blackmail the German judiciary.
        The reality is that the placating policies of some
European countries have emboldened the regime so much
that today they wield such terrorist threats against Europe.
It has already taken great advantage of its extensive
relations with Germany to expand its terrorist network
abroad and particularly in Europe.
        The Iranian Resistance once again stresses that the
time has come to cut all diplomatic and trade relations with
the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran. Today,
critical dialogue is neither in the best interests of the
Iranian people nor in the national interest of the European
countries.
        Having suffered for years under the mullahs' rule of
terror, the Iranian people and Resistance are striving with
all their might to establish democracy in Iran. No doubt,
international decisiveness towards the mullah regime will
expedite the realization of democracy which is in the
interest of the Iranian people as well as in the interest of
regional peace and global security.


Bonn, Tehran Lock Horns over German Arrest Warrant,
Reuters, March 19

        BONN - German leaders on Tuesday gave prosecutors
a free hand to investigate whether Iran's intelligence
minister was behind the 1992 murder of Kurdish exiles in
Berlin despite Tehran's warnings that ties would suffer as a
result.
        "We have a state based on the rule of law. The federal
prosecutor's office opened this investigation and has
jurisdiction over it. I will not intervene in this matter,"
Chancellor Helmut Kohl told reporters....
        German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel told reporters
that Bonn's relations with Iran were entering a sensitive
phase....


Iran Youths Ignore Warnings about New Year Celebrations,
Reuters, March 19

        TEHRAN - Thousands of young Iranians on Tuesday
defied government warnings and let off firecrackers in
Tehran to mark the Iranian new year.
        Police were out in force as youths jumped over
bonfires and lit fireworks to mark the ancient
Chaharshanbe-Souri festival....
        "Police arrested two young men on our street," a
resident of a northeastern suburb of the capital said....
        Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, authorities have
tried with little success to curb the celebration of
Chaharshanbe-Souri which they see as a pagan relic.


Bomb Blast In Bahrain Hotel Injures 2, United Press
International, March 19

        DOHA, Qatar - A "small bomb" exploded Tuesday in
the basement of the four-star Hotel Bisan in the heart of the
Bahraini capital, injuring two hotel employees, hotel staff
said....
        The government says Iran, home of the Shiite sect, is
behind the campaign. In February, Bahrain expelled an
Iranian diplomat for what it described as "activities not
compatible with his diplomatic function."
        Seven men arrested for the earlier bombings
"confessed" to being trained in the Iranian holy city of Qom,
or in Lebanon by the Iranian- backed Hezbollah, a Shiite
militant group fighting Israel....