BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 389
        Thursday, April 11, 1996


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



Ankara Asks Tehran to Withdraw Diplomat-Terrorists, Reuters,
April 10

        ANKARA - ...Visiting foreign ministry assistant
undersecretary Ali Tuygan had asked Iran to bring home the
Iranians after they were accused in the Turkish media of being
involved in the killings of Iranian dissidents and Turkish
secularists, Akbel said....
        ...the Iranian Islamic republic and strictly secular Turkey,
a NATO member, have remained on reasonably good terms in
recent years.
        Those relations were strained last month when Turkish
police said that confessed Turkish Islamist hitman Irfan
Cagirici had received military and political training in Iran.
        The Turkish media have said that Cagirici admitted a role
in the abduction-murders of Iranian dissidents Ali Akbar
Ghorbani and Abbas Qolizade in Istanbul in 1992 at the
prompting of Iranian diplomats.
        Cagirici has confessed to shooting dead newspaper editor
Cetin Emec in Istanbul in 1990 and to ordering the killing of a
Turkish secularist writer the same year....
        [A statement issued today by the National Council of
Resistance of Iran said that: Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of
the NCR, welcomed Turkey's expulsion of four diplomat-
terrorists of the clerical regime, describing it a very necessary
measure to counter the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling
Iran....
        [The NCR President called for the closure of the mullahs'
diplomatic missions in Turkey and the prosecution and
punishment of their diplomat-terrorists. He recalled that in the
years past, the regime had taken maximum advantage of its
diplomatic ties and missions in different countries to
mastermind terrorist operations....]
Russia to Keep Working on Iran Nuclear Reactors, Reuters, April
10

        MOSCOW - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg
Soskovets said on Wednesday Moscow would not withdraw
from a deal to build reactors at Iran's nuclear plant, despite
pressure from Washington, Interfax news agency said.
        "Russia will keep working under the contract to build a
power station in Bushehr in spite of criticism coming from the
United States," Interfax quoted Soskovets as telling Iranian
ambassador Mehdi Safari.
        His remarks came ahead of a Group of Seven summit on
nuclear safety to be hosted by Russian President Boris Yeltsin
in Moscow on April 20.
        Washington has bitterly opposed any nuclear deals with
Iran, which it considers a sponsor of state terrorism, arguing
Tehran might use the technology to develop a nuclear arsenal....
        Russia has two contracts to build three reactors at the
plant and work on the first, which will complete the Bushehr
reactor began last year. The second deal calls for the shipping
of two newer light-water reactors....
        Soskovets also called for further cooperation between
Russia and Iran, and said Russia was ready to sign a deal to
make Russian Ilyushin-114 civilian planes in Iran and another
one to supply Russian oil drilling and refining equipment.


Crackdown In Bonab Continues, Iran Zamin, April 8

        Following the antigovernment demonstration in this
northwestern city on March 8th over election fraud, the regime
has imposed a three-year ban on candidates from the city.
        The weekly Rasad, published in the nearby town of
Maragheh, was shut down and its publisher arrested for
protesting the suppression of the unrest in Bonab.
        The weekly had reported that at least six people were
killed and 120 wounded as revolutionary guards opened fire
on peaceful demonstrators.


Price Hikes Continue

        Kayhan, Apr. 4 - Cost of mail has increased 15% since the
start of the new Iranian year. The Ministry of Economy and
Finance announced that taxes on the buying and selling
automobiles will also rise.

        Salaam, Apr. 3 - The cost of motor oil has increased
three-fold since two weeks ago. The price of potatoes also rose
350%. Impoverished families can no longer afford buying
Potatoes. The prices of onions and tomatoes have also gone up
dramatically, exerting tremendous pressure on low-income
families.