BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 408
        Wednesday, May 8, 1996


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



Qatar Declines Iran Defense Pact Offer, Reuters, May 7

        DOHA - Qatar has politely declined an Iranian offer of a
bilateral defense pact with the Islamic republic saying it was
not necessary at this stage, Qatari officials said on Tuesday....
        The suggestion came during talks Iran's Defense Minister
Mohammad Forouzandeh had with Qatari leaders including the
Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, during a four-day
visit which ended on Tuesday.
        Diplomats said Qatar's other allies like the United States,
Britain and France with whom the oil and gas-rich emirate has
comprehensive defense treaties and close political and security
ties were baffled by the Iranian offer.
        Iran, whose influence in the Gulf diminished after the
1979 fall of the late Shah, was trying to "regain a foothold in
the region" by befriending Qatar, a Western diplomat said.
        "But we know that Qatar, as a sovereign country, knows
its best interest and will be wary of the Iranian design," he
said.
        Qatar is a small Arab country with a population of
560,000 of whom only 120,000 are nationals. It is a member of
the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)....
        But most of its five allies in the GCC look on the Islamic
republic with suspicion.
        The dominant GCC power, Saudi Arabia, accuses Iran of
attempting to export its own brand of Islamic revolution to
neighboring states, Bahrain blames it for fomenting trouble in
its internal affairs and Abu Dhabi charges it with usurping its
islands....


Missing Arms, U.S. News & World Report, May 13

        Iran has reportedly stepped up its arms shipments to
Hezbollah forces along the border with Israel. But Mideast
intelligence sources say that some of the Iranian shipments
-mostly light weapons, missiles and explosives- are
mysteriously disappearing in Syria. The sources disclose that
the number of crates arriving at Damascus International
Airport, where Iranian officials meet them, does not always
tally with the number trucked to the Syrian-Lebanese border.
One suspicion: The Iranians are concealing the missing cargo so
they can eventually arm militant Syrian factions unhappy with
the prospect of peace between Damascus and Jerusalem.


Hezbollah Totally Subservient to Mullahs, voice of America,
May 2

        Founded by Iran in 1982, Hezbollah first came to the
attention of the West in 1983, when suicide bombers from the
group killed 261 United States marines and 74 French
paratroopers who were on a peace-keeping mission in Beirut.
From its base in the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah was, during the
1980s, the launching pad for various terrorist attacks around
the world. Under Iran's patronage, the guerrilla group took root
in southern Lebanon in 1985....
        David Halevy is an Israeli expert on Middle East
terrorism. He says the group continues to be totally subservient
to Iran.
        "It is an Iranian inspired, controlled, financed
organization. Hezbollah means in Arabic, 'Party of God.' and
that by itself should indicate from where they draw their
ideology. Only recently, in a secret decision by the Iranian
Supreme National Security Council, Hezbollah got an increase of
about 70 percent in its money allocations provided by Iran."...
        David Halevy agrees Hezbollah has no money worries. It
Has a very well-paid leadership, a core of 400 salaried fighters,
and a larger membership of four to six-thousand people who
are also taken care of.
        "From where does it get the salaries? Hezbollah does not
produce anything. Hezbollah does not trade anything. The only
thing they trade are Katyusha rockets. Hezbollah is not a
banking institution. So, the money comes from Iran, equipment
comes from Iran, weapons come from Iran."...
        "It's not within the Iranian interest that there should be
peace between the Israelis and the Arabs. The Iranians are
using their covert, long-reaching bodies like Hezbollah, Hamas,
and Islamic Jihad in order to maintain hostility in the Middle
East, destroy, jeopardize and if possible block completely the
peace process that started in september 1993 with the Oslo
agreement."