BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 428
        Thursday, June 6, 1996


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


Maryam Rajavi, Meets Yasser Arafat, Agence France Presse,
June 5

        On Tuesday, Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian
autonomous state, met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi [Iranian
Resistance's President-elect]....
        According to a statement issued by the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, published in London, the meeting's subject
was developments in the Middle East peace process and mutual
concerns. The statement said that in the meeting, Mrs. Rajavi
"expressed the Iranian Resistance's support for the Middle East
peace process and the realization of a just and lasting peace."...


Bahrain Plot Suspects Say They Were Trained in Iran, Reuter
Reports, June 5

        MANAMA - Bahrainis arrested in connection with an
alleged pro-Iranian plot to topple Bahrain's government by
force said in televised confessions on Wednesday they received
military training in Iran and Lebanon.
        One of the six suspects shown on state television
confessing to their role in the plot said one of the Iranian
officials he met was a man called Wahidi who said he directly
reported to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
        Another suspect said an Iranian official asked him to
gather information on U.S. forces in Bahrain, base of the U.S.
Fifth Fleet.
        "You, Bahrainis studying at (the Iranian city of) Qom and
in Bahrain should work to overthrow the regime in Bahrain and
set up a pro-Iranian 'Islamic Republic'," Ali Ahmed al-
Mutaqawi quoted an Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer as
telling him.
        He said: "Wahidi informed me that he directly reports to
Imam Khamenei... He advised me that power in Bahrain should
go to the Shi'ites and to achieve this objective, their (Iranian)
support is a must."
        Mutaqawi said in May 1995 a group of Bahrainis "arrived
in Qom to start training on military exercises conducted by
Bahraini Hizbollah."...
        Another suspect said the Bahrainis were trained by the
pro-Iranian Hizbollah (Party of God) in Lebanon....
        Mutaqawi said he received financial support from Iranian
officials to train 3,000 Bahrainis to try to topple the
government and overthrow the ruling al-Khalifa family by
force.
        In June 1995, Mutaqawi said, "the Iranian view focused
on accusations against Iran of supporting the troubles in
Bahrain and therefore it was arranged to have the training at
Hizbollah camps in Lebanon."...
        Britain expressed "great concern" on Wednesday at
Bahrain's announcement of an Iranian-backed plot to topple
the government and gave full backing to the island's rulers....


Iran Under US Eye, Christian Science Monitor, June 4

        Iran's role as a sponsor of international terrorism is being
closely watched in the wake of the Israeli elections last week.
A key question US intelligence analysts are now grappling with
is how Iran and the radicals it backs in the Middle East will
respond to the narrow victory of Benjamin Netanyahu....
        "Iran is by far and away the most active and capable of
the (terrorism) sponsoring states," says one of several US
intelligence officials who provided a rare assessment of current
trends in international terrorism....
        For Hamas and other Iran-backed Palestinian radicals,
"Netanyahu ... would be an enemy easier to hate," says one
official....
        Iran. meanwhile, has been trying to entice Hamas,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Muslim radicals of Hezbollah in
Lebanon, and secular Arab "rejectionist" groups to forge a
"united front" against Arab-Israeli peace, the officials say....
        Iranian funds, arms, and training are helping to sustain
Muslim radicals bent on sabotaging Arab-Israeli peace, and
Tehran is providing differing degrees of succor to radical
Islamic groups in North Africa and Turkey, US intelligence
officials say.
        In a related effort to expand its influence in Europe, Iran
has sent operatives of its Ministry of Intelligence and Security
to tutor secret agents of the Muslim-led Bosnian government in
terrorism techniques....


Conservative Mullah Heads Iran's Majlis, Associated Press, June
5

        A powerful hard-liner was re-elected speaker of Iran's
new parliament Wednesday...
        State-run Tehran Radio said Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri was
re-elected for a one-year term with 146 of the 238 votes cast.
He served as speaker during the previous four-year
legislature...
        Nateq-Nouri ... is expected to be the hard-liners' main
candidate in presidential elections scheduled for mid-1997.
        The job as speaker of the parliament ... gives him a strong
power base. The speaker is the dominant figure in the Majlis,
and has a great degree of control over legislation...
        Under another hard-line parliament, Iran is likely to
continue its hostility toward the United States. Social freedoms
are also likely to remain restricted.
        During the previous parliament's closing session last
month, Nateq-Nouri said policies adopted by the Majlis had
been "very effective and positive in combating the United
States and the Zionist regime."