BRIEF ON IRAN	 
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran
	No. 458
	Friday, July 19, 1996 
 
 
 
	3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 
 
 

Maryam Rajavi Expresses Condolences over TWA Crash, 
Iran Zamin News Agency, July 18 
 
	In a statement issued today, the National Council of 
Resistance of Iran said that Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the 
President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, sent a message to 
President Bill Clinton and expressed her deep sorrow 
regarding the explosion of the TWA airliner over the 
Atlantic Ocean. 
	Mrs. Rajavi expressed her sympathies to Mr. 
Clinton and offered her deepest condolences to the families 
of the victims of the tragic accident. 
 
 
Iran Blamed for Saudi Blast, United Press International, July 
18 
 
	WASHINGTON — A congressional task force 
Thursday blamed Iran for training, arming and giving go-
ahead orders to Saudi Islamic fundamentalists who they say 
bombed a compound housing U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia 
last month. 
	The House Task Force on Terrorism and 
Unconventional Warfare... said the deadly bombing in 
Dhahran that left 19 U.S. soldiers dead was carried out by 
home-grown terrorists in Saudi Arabia linked to Hezbollah, 
the Shiite Muslim militant group financed and armed by 
Iran and aided by Syria. 
	The Pentagon and the FBI... have not yet publicly 
linked the bombing to any specific group. Only days after 
the attack, however, Pentagon officials were quick to suggest 
that Saudi nationals, backed by foreign funds and 
sophistication, were likely the perpetrators. 
	The Pentagon dismissed the task force's report....

 
Trial of a Tehran-dispatched Terrorist in Turkey, Iran 
Zamin News Agency, July 18 
 
	Today, the trial of Reza Barzgar Ma'ssoumi, a 
terrorist agent of the clerical regime's Intelligence Ministry, 
will resume in Istanbul. He is charged with direct 
involvement in the cowardly assassination of Mrs. Zahra 
Rajabi [a member of the NCR] and Mr. Ali Moradi on 
February 20, 1996 in Istanbul. 
	Previously, Ma'ssoumi had confessed that upon 
being informed of Mrs. Rajabi's presence in Turkey, the 
Intelligence Ministry dispatched an agent to that country to 
make the necessary arrangements for the assassination.... 
 
 
Mullahs Conduct Maneuvers in Northern Iran, Tehran 
Radio, July 17 
 
	Military maneuvers in the Gilan province is 
completed. The maneuvers were to sustain and reinforce the 
readiness of the basiji forces.... 
	The first stage of the maneuvers began in the cities 
of Rasht, Roodbar, Astaneh-Ashrafieh, Lahijan, Langerood 
and roodsar with the participation of 29 battalions. 
	In the second stage of the military exercises will 
start on July 20th in the cities of Astara, Talesh, Anzali, 
Someesara, Fouman and Masasl with participation of 15 
battalions. 
	According to the commander of the Revolutionary 
Guards in the Gilan region ... 44 Ashura and Alzahra 
battalions took part. 
 
 
More Fatal Accidents Due to Bad Roads, Agence France 
Presse, July 18 
 
	According to the Iranian press, in an accident 
involving a passenger bus and a truck in the Tehran-Zanjan 
road, 11 people were killed and 22 people were seriously 
wounded. 
	The truck driver and his assistant were from Turkey 
and are both among the dead, according to Kayhan. The 
paper said that some of the wounded are in very critical 
situations. 
	[Due to inadequate maintenance of the roads by the 
government, such accidents have become very common in 
Iran. Iran Zamin News Agency reported today that a 
suspended bridge in Zaman-Khan, near the city of 
Najafabad, fell down and 8 people lost their lives.] 
 
 
OnNewsLine 
 
	•	BBC Radio, July 16—The daily Kayhan 
reported that today, the Central Bank issued guidelines to 
banks all over the country, prohibiting them from opening a 
checking account for whomever draws a bad check. 
	•	Tehran Radio, July 17—In an interview 
with our reporter, the Brigadier General Seifollahi, 
commander of the Disciplinary Forces, said that during the 
Disciplinary Forces Week [which began on July 17], strike 
maneuvers will be conducted ... all over the country. 
	•	Agence France Presse, July 17—On 
Wednesday, Tehran implicitly accused England of 
preventing an agreement with the European Union over the 
Salman Rushdie problem. 
	•	Iran Zamin News Agency, July 18—
According to reports from Eastern Azarbaijan province, the 
number of victims of the recent flood is much higher than 
those announced by the government. The government said 
the number was between 18 to 22, but the residents of the 
region put the number closer to 150.