BRIEF ON IRAN No. 375 Friday, March 22, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 U.S. House Panel Backs Wider Iran Sanctions, Reuters, March 21 WASHINGTON - A U.S. House of Representatives panel voted unanimously on Thursday to expand U.S. sanctions against Iran and Libya in an attempt to deter foreign companies from doing business in those countries' oil and gas sectors.... "It tells foreign companies that you can either trade with them or trade with us," said Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, endorsing the House bill.... ...Lawmakers said the United States could not let allied interests stop Washington from taking stronger action to stop extremism. "I am sorry if we offend our friends," said Representative Sam Gejdenson, a Connecticut Democrat. "But the sight of arms and legs strewn over the streets of Tel Aviv offends me."... The House bill would make the president slap two out of five penalties on companies that invest $40 million or more in one year in Iranian or Libyan oil or gas resources, or which export goods or services to their refineries. The Senate bill was narrower, requiring use of only one out of four sanctions.... Matching the Senate bill, the House's sanctions include denying Export-Import Bank assistance or export licenses to offending companies, banning U.S. banks from lending more than $10 million a year to those companies and barring offending financial institutions from serving as primary dealers in U.S. government bonds. The House added two other measures, allowing the president to prohibit U.S. government purchases from offending companies or banning exports of their products to the United States.... [The Associated Press quoted Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R- N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations Committee as saying: "By imposing sanctions on companies that help to develop the oil and gas industries in Iran and Libya, this bill can put a halt to their state-sponsored terrorism and their efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction."] Mullahs' Terrorists Responsible for Assassinations in Turkey, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, March 18 Ankara mentions Iran's role in explosions and assassinations. Official sources at the Turkish Interior Ministry said that a pro-Iranian Turkish group is possibly responsible for assassination of at least 30 prominent Turkish personalities.... After the arrest of a leader of Turkish Hezbollah, Prime Minister Massoud Ilmaz has ordered new investigations into the matter, the sources said. They said that the group is one of many groups who received training in Iran.... Also many other individuals have received training in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' camps in Lebanon. In the past two years, there has been 14 explosions in Turkey which are attributed to Hezbollah. In addition, the kidnapping of 8 Iranian exiles and their secret surrender to Iran is attributed to Hezbollah.... Prime Minister Ilmaz has made his decision to be tough in dealing with Tehran... and canceled a scheduled trip to Turkey by Iran's deputy Interior Secretary. The cancellation, in effect, means the cessation of the joint security committees of both countries.... Hezbollah, Israel Trade Warnings, United Press International, March 21 BEIRUT - The chief of the Iran-backed Hezbollah warned Thursday that his group will bombard northern Israel if the Israeli Army harms civilians in southern Lebanon.... Asked about accusations that Syria and Iran back his group, Nasrallah said, "Our decision is a personal decision. Iran and Syria support our legitimate right (to resist occupation.)" Nasrallah identified 20-year-old Ali Kashmar as the Hezbollah suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Israeli convoy in the occupied border zone of southern Lebanon Wednesday. The attack killed one Israeli soldier and wounded an Israeli civilian truck driver.... "The border zone is an open battlefield for our strugglers," Nasrallah said.... "The Zionists will soon be annihilated and our holy land will be ours again," Kashmar said....