BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 434
        Friday, June 14, 1996


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


Mullahs' Elite to Hold "Road to Jerusalem'' Wargames,
Reuters, June 13

        TEHRAN - Iran said on Thursday 150,000 hand-picked
Revolutionary Guards will hold war games code-named "Road to Jerusalem."
        Guards Commander General Mohsen Rezaei told the
Iranian news agency IRNA the "Tariq al-Quds" (Road to
Jerusalem) exercises would be held by 150,000 men who are
being chosen from 500,OOO guards and Basij volunteer forces.
        Rezaei said training camps were being held across Iran
to pick the troops for the war games scheduled to be held
during the current Iranian year which ends March 20,
1997....
        Iran insists that Jerusalem, home to one of the three
most holy Moslem shrines, should be under Moslem rule.
        The Iranian military last month held the country's
largest ever war games with 200,000 troops and hundreds of
tanks and warplanes taking part.


House Panel OKs Iran Sanctions, United Press International,
June 13

        A House committee approved legislation Thursday that
would impose trade sanctions against foreign nationals and
companies that help Iran or Libya obtain weapons of mass
destruction....
        The legislation was approved despite objections
outlined by Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas,
who called the measure the "wrong approach," but admitted
the United States had little choice....
        "I am extremely doubtful that secondary boycotts, or
other extraterritorial approaches, are appropriate
mechanisms for affecting such policies," Archer added.
"However, if our allies are going to be complacent in the face
of such blatant criminality on the part of Iran and Libya, the
U.S. is all but forced to exercise its leadership unilaterally."...
        Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., praised the House passage
of the bill, and said U.S. allies would be forced to choose
whether they wanted to do business with the United States,
or Iran and Libya.
        "This Iran sanctions legislation sends a clear and direct
signal to anyone who wants to do business with the bloody
Iranian and Libyan regimes," D'Amato said....


Iran Chides Clinton for Supporting Bahrain, Reuters, June 13

        TEHRAN - Iran's state-run radio on Thursday chided
U.S. President Bill Clinton for backing Bahrain over an alleged
Iranian-backed plot, saying it was a ploy to boost his chances
of re-election.
        "America's unlucky president...is trying to find another
device for winning in the forthcoming elections through
adventurism and by having regional states confront each
other instead of Israel," Tehran radio said in a commentary,
referring to the U.S. presidential elections in November.
        The radio was referring to a message sent by Clinton to
Bahrain's Emir Sheikh Isa bin Sulman al-Khalifa expressing
firm support for the Gulf Arab state over the alleged armed
plot to topple its government and install a pro-Iranian
Islamic state....
Clerics Make International Phone Rates Costlier to Deter News
Leaks, Agence France Presse, June 13

        TEHRAN - On Wednesday Iranian authorities decided to
raise international telephone rates by 71 percent.
        Newspapers reported, on Thursday, that as of today
international telephone and telex rates would be calculated
based on an exchange rate of 3,000 rials per dollar instead of
1,750 rials per dollar, raising charges by 70 percent....

[Tehran clerics had just raised domestic telephone rates by
11 percent in April.  Under the current economic situation of
the Iranian people, it seems that this is another ploy by
mullahs to prevent spread of news inside Iran and abroad]


Deputy Threatened Not to Run for Parliament Elections, BBC
Radio, June 11

        The daily salaam reported an interview with a former
deputy of Majlis whose qualification was rejected by the
Guardian Council.  Mohammad Ra'isi, former deputy of
parliament from southern city of Shahr-e-kord told the
newspaper they send me a message that it is not wise for me
to run for elections.
        Salaam reported that despite Ra'isi's demand he
received no explanation.  But he was orally mentioned that
he has distanced himself from Hezbollah and are supporting
questionable individuals...