BRIEF ON IRAN No. 402 Tuesday, April 30, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Tehran's System Immersed in Economic Problems, The Washington Times, April 29 ... Once a wealthy oil producer, Iran is currently better known abroad for its support for Islamic revolutionary groups - including the Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon - than for its economic prowess.... U.S. sanctions are hurting Iran's oil industry and restricting the flow of international investment.... "The heart of the matter," says a prominent businessman, "is that, whereas in the latter half of the 1970s the government's annual oil revenue was $22 billion for a population of 30 million, it is now $14 billion for a population of 60 million." An average monthly public sector salary in 1979 was worth about $500, and a Paykan, a locally assembled car, could be bought for the equivalent of less than $4,000. These days, the average public- sector salary amounts to about $100 and the car costs $13,000. "Annual public-sector wage increases are pegged at 20 percent," the businessman said. "But actual inflation is between 65 and 100 percent. People can't make ends meet."... But the state's coffers are dry.... Iran's Export Declines, Agence France Presse, April 28 Industrial Ministry announced that Iran's industrial export in 1995-96 has declined by 12% from the previous year. This decline was attributed the situation due to restrictions on exchange rates that has been imposed by the government during last year.... According to officially broadcasted assessments, which are considered optimistic by foreign experts in Tehran, Iran's exports during the previous year was about $4.4 billion, did not exceed from $3 to 3.2 billion. Pro-Rafsanjani Weekly Shut Down, Radio Israel, April 28 The [pro-hardliners] daily sala'am reported that the weekly Bahman which is publication of pro-Rafsanjani's Servants of Iran's Reconstruction, is shut down for ever... Mullahs' Nuclear Ambitions: A Formula for Disaster, U.S. News & World Report, May 6 While Western intelligence experts fear that Tehran is developing a nuclear weapon, nuclear-safety experts warn that in the process Iran may also be building another Chernobyl.... Last year, despite objections from the White House the cash- short Russian government agreed to refurbish and complete the Iranian plant.... ... 16 years of standing untouched in a harsh seaside climate of intermittent heat, cold and wet has inevitably led to corrosion of the facility's wires and pipes. What's more, Russian nuclear technology is ill-suited for the facility's German design.... ... "It's a formula for potential disaster," says David Kaye, a former inspector with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran Building Tunnels in Gulf for Missiles, Associated Press, April 29 Iran is building tunnels along its Persian Gulf coastline, apparently as protective storage sites for ballistic missiles, a U.S. official said Monday. Navy Capt. Mark D. Neuhart, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command... said that Iran's intentions were unclear but that the tunnels appeared to be designed for protective warehousing of missiles rather than as launch sites.... "I will say that we take very seriously the fact that Iran already has short-range ballistic missiles and already poses a threat with those ..., and we believe that they are trying to develop long-range ballistic missiles," Perry said in response to the question at a Pentagon news conference on Sunday. China, Central Asia Agree to Combat Fundamental-ism, Reuters, April 29 BEIJING - China and its Central Asian neighbors have reached an understanding to join forces to combat the spread of fundamentalist Islamic movements in their countries, Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said on Monday.... Asked whether China was concerned about the spread of fundamentalist Moslem movements toward its borders from Iran, Qian revealed that the rise of Islamic extremists had sparked some anxiety in Beijing....