BRIEF ON IRAN	 
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran           
	
	No. 461	
	Wednesday, July 24, 1996 
 
 
 
	3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 

Iran Condemns Three To Death, Reuters, July 23  
 
	An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced to death 
three men, including a Jew who converted to Islam, for 
spying for Israel and the CIA and economic sabotage during 
the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. 
	Tehran radio said the court sentenced to death 
Hedayatollah Zendehdel, a Jewish businessman who 
converted to Islam, on charges including setting up a 
network involved in economic fraud and passing classified 
military information to enemies. 
	The Islamic revolutionary court also sentenced to 
death former air force officer Abdolreza Yazdanshenas and 
businessman Abolqassem Majd-Abkahi on similar charges 
and ordered the three to receive 170 lashes before execution, 
the radio said. 
	The radio report did not say who the men worked 
for but earlier reports said they were charged at their trial in 
Tehran with having contacts with Israel and the United 
States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and leading a 
major network set up during the war to defraud state banks 
and sabotage the economy. 
	The court also sentenced former royal guards 
member Ali Sadafiyan to 23 years in prison and 200 lashes 
for belonging to the network.... 
	Television actor Fereidoun Abuzia received a 
sentence of 10 years and 110 lashes and Abdolghafour 
Sartipi, a businessman charged with using his ties to Iran's 
former royal family for fraud, was jailed for seven years, the 
radio added.... 
	Iran said last month it had executed an army 
colonel for spying for Iraq and was holding an air force 
colonel for working for the CIA and another army colonel 
for cooperating with Turkish intelligence. 
 
 
The House Passed Sanctions Bill, Associated Press, July 23 
 
	Congress sent President Clinton a bill opposed by 
many of America's allies that would punish foreign 
businesses that invest in Iran and Libya. 
	The House approved without dissent Tuesday the 
Senate version of the legislation that requires the president 
to impose sanctions on foreign firms that invest $40 million 
or more in a year in the energy sectors of the two countries. 
	The administration has voiced concerns about 
retaliation from U.S. trading partners but has indicated that 
Clinton will sign the bill.... 
 
 
Clergies Issue Fatwa in Farsi And Arabic, Urge More 
Terrorism, Radio Israel, July 22 
 
	In Iran, two high ranking government clergies 
issued a fatwa [religious edict] and described the suicide 
assassination operations as esteemed deeds that all Muslim 
should take up as their professions. 
	The edicts by Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani and 
Ayatollah Yousef Saneii, who are well-known government 
clergies, are published in the latest issue of the daily 
Jomhuri-e Eslami.... 
	The edicts are also issued in Arabic language and 
Jomhuri-e Eslami has published the Arabic text right next to 
its Farsi text. 


The Underground Threat, The Wall Street Journal, July 23 
 
	...Iran has constructed a number of deep tunnels 
along its coastline, including some adjoining the 
strategically vital Straits of Hormuz. U.S. intelligence 
analysts think they are intended to launch horizontally or 
store long-range ballistic or Scud missiles. U.S. Gen. 
Binford Peay, commander in chief of the U.S. Central 
Command, told Jane's Defence Weekly that such a tunnel 
system "indicates an offensive capability." 
	Western intelligence analysts suspect that the 
tunnels are most likely intended to house the North Korean-
made Nodong 1 missile. Iran was close to purchasing a 
number of Nodongs earlier this year, but the deal fell 
through. Even if the Nodong deal isn't revived, Iran could 
employ its extensive arsenal of Scud missiles, which, 
according to Gen. Peay, could have their ranges extended to 
reach as far as Southern Europe. 
	And in May, Iran reportedly test-fired a new type of 
long-range ballistic missile known as the Tondar. Western 
intelligence officials say that the only missile they know of 
by that name is the Tondar-68, a missile Iran was reportedly 
developing several years ago with help from North Korea 
and China and that has an estimated range of 420 miles. 
Either way, Western intelligence officials say that if the 
tunnels along the Iranian coast are dug deep enough, they 
would be impenetrable by current U.S. bombs.... 
	The U.S. and its allies have to ask themselves if 
they can allow Iran to have a secure ballistic missile launch 
site alongside what is arguably the most important oil 
transshipment point in the world....