BRIEF ON IRAN
        No. 435
        Monday, June 17, 1996


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



Anti-Fundamenatlist Festival and Mullahs' Terrorism, The
Sunday Times, June 16

        ...Iran's key role in terrorism in Europe and its support
for Middle Eastern terrorist groups will provoke calls for tight
security this week in London, which is hosting an
international cultural festival-Women, Voice of the
Oppressed-against Islamic fundamentalism. Many exiled
opponents of the Iranian regime are expected to attend.
        The event at Olympia will feature speakers and
performers from Europe and the Middle East. They will
include Marzieh, a popular Iranian singer whose flight from
Iran two years ago led to the arrest of her daughter in
Tehran.
        The 72-year-old diva of Persian music had twice
performed before the Queen but under the mullahs she was
banned from performing in public for 15 years, until she
escaped and joined the resistance.


University Professor Purged by Hezbollahi Students, Kayhan,
June 13

        The Hezbollahi students at the Beheshti University
forced out a professor of medicine from the campus accusing
him of profanity.
        The students ... believed that the professor criticized the
religious cover of one of their classmates....
        [Reuters reported that Ayatollah Jannati a senior
Iranian cleric called on Friday for purging "impious elements"
from universities. Jannati was supporting a drive launched
recently when supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said
universities were not Islamic enough and called for them to
be Islamicized.]


Rafsanjani Says U.S. Sanctions Won't Break Mullahs, Reuters,
June 15

        Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on
Saturday U.S. pressure would not break the will of the Islamic
republic, the official news agency IRNA said....
        Rafsanjani made his comments two days after a U.S.
House of Representatives Committee approved a compromise
bill boosting U.S. sanctions on Iran and Libya but giving
President Bill Clinton considerable latitude in carrying them
out....
        Tehran Times newspaper earlier said the U.S. bill was
inspired by "Zionist forces" and was "doomed for failure."...
        [On Friday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran
lauded the secondary sanctions against mullahs' regime and
said that decisiveness and international sanctions are the only
language Iran's dictators comprehend.]
News Overview

Tehran's Efforts And the
Economic Sanctions

        Regardless of their insistence on Salman Rushdie's death
edict and opposition to the peace in the Middle East, the
officials of the clerical government in Tehran can never hide
their anxiousness regarding the continuation of the U.S.
economic sanctions and its possible acceptance by the
European countries.
        The regime's officials struggle to have an affect on the
meetings between the Americans and the Europeans over the
subject and prevent the "danger" of spreading of the sanctions
to other countries. So far, the investments by some European
and Japanese  international companies have been suspended
and the regime's call for their investment on 11 gas and oil
projects has been left unanswered.
        The European governments insist on continuing the
policy of "critical dialogue" with Tehran and speak of
retaliations against U.S. should the American government
decide to practice imposition of secondary sanctions against
certain companies dealing with the fundamentalist rulers of
Tehran.
        Trying to widen the differences between U.S. and
Europe, the Iranian officials spread the news of another
lucrative deal for purchase of 10 Airbus aircrafts worth about
$1 billion just before the German Chancellor's visit to the U.S.
The regime's ambassador in Germany warned the Europeans
that "the United States is trying to prevent negotiations
between Iran and the Airbus Consortium" [Agence France
Press, May 22]. Using every opportunity, Tehran's officials
resort to such tactics to prevent the acceptance of sanctions
by Europe.
        If the policy of creating peace between Arabs and Israel
is to advance, the Western allies cannot appease the regional
enemy of the peace process any more. But if the resolution of
the dispute between some of the powerful European countries
and the U.S. is to have priority over the Mideast peace
process, then the fundamentalist regime of Iran will have the
opportunity to advance its agitating, anti-peace, anti-
tranquillity policies in the region and paint a gloomy future
for the Middle East.