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."