BRIEF ON IRAN
        Representative Office of
        The National Council of Resistance of Iran
        No. 403
        Wednesday, May 1, 1996



        3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007


German-Bound Iranian Ship Carried Shell, Launcher,
Reuters, April 30

        BRUSSELS - An Iranian ship docked in Belgium last
month carried arms which could have been used in a
terrorist attack in Germany, a spokesman for the public
prosecutor's office in the port of Antwerp said on Tuesday.
        Initially police had described the March 14 find
aboard the Iran Kollahdooz as "explosives," but a closer
investigation showed the goods to be a mortar shell and
launcher....
        From Antwerp the spokesman said the mortar shell
had a time fuse allowing mid-air explosion. The launcher
had a range of up to 719 meters.
        "Looking at the size and weight (of the mortar
grenade), it is more than plausible that the purpose was to
launch it from a truck," he said. The information was passed
on to Munich police.
        "(The shell's) explosive load has a net equivalent of
125 kilos of TNT, which has a deadly effect over a range of
650 meters through shrapnel and shockwaves," he said....


Weapons and Hit Teams, Pinkerton Risk Assessment, April
29

        The Times of London reported on April 26 that Iran is
sending weapons to Hizbollah by truck from Syria through
the Bekaa Valley. Turkey also has been the unwitting route
for large quantities of Iranian weapons slated for Hizbollah
cross its frontier. In another development, The New York
Times reported Iran secretly has trained Bosnian Muslim
"hit teams" to track down those labeled war criminals by
the Sarajevo government. Recently, five Bosnians were
arrested in Croatia and accused of attempting to assassinate
a renegade Muslim leader who led attacks against Muslim
troops.
        Although The Times suggests the hit teams are being
trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Tehran, in
February, UN forces captured eight Bosnians and three
Iranians at what was believed to be a guerrilla training
camp in Muslim-Croat territory. Iranian hit teams have
attacked Iranian dissidents throughout Western Europe and
these recent developments underscore the fact that the
renegade republic continues to act with impunity....


Mullahs' Assassination of Iranian Dissidents Up in '95,
Associated Press, April 30

        Iran is the "premier state sponsor of international
terrorism," the State Department said Tuesday, citing as
proof Iran's alleged support for radical groups from North
Africa to Central Asia.
        The department said in its annual report on
international terrorism that seven Iranian murders of
dissidents were confirmed last year, up from four in 1994.
        The report, covering terrorist activities around the
world in 1995, follows a recent upsurge in Iranian weapons
shipments through Syria to Hezbollah guerrillas in
Lebanon....
        [Philip Wilcox, head of the State Department's
counterterrorism office] said 200 attacks were launched
against U.S. government and military personnel in 1986,
compared with 39 last year. Attacks against all American
targets rose to 99 last year from 66 the year before....

No Sympathy in Congress for Critical Dialogue with Mullahs,
Voice Of America, April 29

        Speaking at a conference by the Middle East Institute
this week, congressional staff member Greg Rickman
explained why the U-S Congress wants to ban American
trade with nations that continue to do substantial business
with Iran.
        Rickman: "I must say that there is no sympathy in
congress for critical dialogue and that the patience of
Congress has worn thin for those nations that continue to
stick to this position. Simply put, we believe that Iran must
be economically isolated until it forgoes its policies of
terrorism and aggression. Iran's aggressive policies pose a
clear and present danger to the vital security interests of
our own nation and to those of our allies."...


Cash-Strapped Clerics Try to Attract Foreign Tourists,
Reuters, April 29

        TEHRAN - ...Iran remains firmly off the beaten track
for most tourists, seen as a place of turmoil following the
1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah and the
1980-88 war with Iraq.
        But now the Gulf country that seems to wear its
political isolation as a badge of pride wants to revive a
withered tourist industry to earn foreign exchange to repay
big foreign debts....
        Iran was once a high-profile destination for wealthy
Western tourists, particularly during the skiing season,
when visitors could combine the sport with visits to artistic,
archaeological and Islamic treasures in Isfahan, Shiraz,
Mashhad and Hamadan....