BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        No. 386
        Monday, April 8, 1996



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


Taxi And Minibus Drivers in Malayer Stage Strike, a
statement by NCR, April 7

        Reports from Iran say that following tremendous
increases in the prices of basic commodities, especially
after the new Iranian year that began on March 21,
popular protests throughout the country have escalated.
        On April 2, 3 and 4, taxi drivers in Malayer, 400 km
southwest of Tehran, staged a city-wide strike to protest
the price increases, particularly gasoline prices. They also
demanded a hike in taxi fares.
        Subsequently, minibus drivers operating between
Malayer and Nahavand, and Malayer and Boroujerd,
stopped working and called for increases in minibus fares.
        Despite intervention by local authorities, drivers
have refused to resume work and the situation in the city
is described as very tense.
        In a related development, President of Malayer's
Payam-e Nour University resigned in protest to the lack of
attention to the university's problems and insufficient
facilities for the students. The university has been the
scene of four-month-long strike in protest to these
shortages. Instead of meeting the students' demands,
officials plan to close down the university.


Mullahs' Ship Filled with Explosives Intercepted,
Associated Press, April 7

        JERUSALEM - An Iranian ship loaded with
sophisticated arms and explosives and intended to attack
Jewish and Israeli targets has been intercepted, Israeli
Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday.
        Belgian authorities discovered the ship in the port of
Antwerp in the past two weeks, Peres aide Aliza Goren
told The Associated Press.
        Peres said the arms were discovered only by chance,
and said the Iranian plan could easily have succeeded.
Authorities offered no other details.
        ...He said Iran's greater goal is to sabotage the peace
process between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
        Peres bitterly attacked "four European countries"
that he said have extended billions of dollars in credits to
Iran in the last few months. He did not name the
countries....


Islamic Jihad Member Trained in Iran, Reuters, April 7

        JERUSALEM - Israeli security forces have arrested a
Palestinian man allegedly recruited by the Islamic Jihad
militant group while studying in Turkey, the army said on
Sunday.
        The Shin Bet secret police arrested a student from
Gaza "suspected of being recruited by the Islamic Jihad in
Turkey and who underwent military training in Iran so as
to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets," an army
spokesman said....
        "At the training camp he met other trainees from
Lebanon, Syria and residents of Gaza who received code
names and began to undergo training in combat methods,
including instruction in intelligence, surveillance and
covert communications," the spokesman said.
        The suspect said during interrogation that workers
at the Iranian Embassy in Turkey had provided
counterfeit documents to Islamic Jihad which he had used
to travel to Iran....


Clergy Council Annuls Elections Results in Major City,
Reuters, April 6

        TEHRAN - A senior Iranian official said on Saturday
that results in 156 out of 196 constituencies in last
month's general elections were validated by Iran's
Guardian Council....
        The Council, a powerful clergy-based body
empowered by the constitution to screen candidates and
supervise the elections, had ordered the annulment of
results in five constituencies including Isfahan -Iran's
third largest city-  but gave no reasons for voiding the
results....


Saudi Warns It Won't Tolerate Iranian Haj Rally, Reuters,
April 7

        DUBAI - Saudi Arabia warned on Sunday that it
would not tolerate political rallies by Iranian pilgrims at
the annual Moslem pilgrimage to Mecca at the end of
April.
        "Saudi Arabia has not allowed such rallies in the
past... and the holding of such rallies will never be
allowed," said a Saudi Interior Ministry official, quoted by
the official Saudi Press Agency.
        The agency said the official was commenting on
remarks by Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
that Iranian pilgrims were planning political rallies during
the pilgrimage season.
        The Saudi official said the holding of rallies
"contradicts the rites of haj and exposes the security and
safety of pilgrims to dangers."...