BRIEF ON IRAN	 
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran           
	
	No. 477	
	Thursday, August 15, 1996 
 
 
3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007  
 


Arrested Terrorist Says He Was Trained in Iran, 
Syria, Associated Press, August 14 
 
	An Islamic militant accused of 
orchestrating a series of suicide bombings in Israel 
defended his actions Wednesday and said he was 
trained in Iran and Sudan.... 
	Salameh was captured May 17 and accused 
of organizing bombings in Israel in February and 
March that killed 43 people and wounded 91.... 
	Asked if he had been trained in Iran and 
Sudan, Salameh said "yes."... 
 
 
Videotaping at U.S. Base in Bosnia Raises Terrorist 
Alert, The New York Times, August 14 
 
	American troops in Bosnia have been 
placed on the highest state of alert after people in 
civilian clothes were apprehended while videotaping 
American bases there, and intelligence reports 
suggested a terrorist attack might be in the planning, 
the Defense Department said today.... 
	A Pentagon official also said that the 
cameramen "were not Serbs," but otherwise declined 
to identify those taking the pictures. 
	"People were actually stopped and film was 
taken," the official said. Asked if it was possible that 
these people were working with Iranian terrorists in 
Bosnia, the official would not comment. 
	There have been fears that groups of both 
Bosnian Serbs and Iranian Muslims might have 
reason to attack the American-led NATO 
peacekeeping force in Bosnia. 
	One assumption, they said, is that Bosnian 
Serb forces might want to disrupt the peacekeeping 
operation.... They said there is also fear of attacks by 
groups of Iranian Muslim fundamentalists who 
fought alongside Muslim Bosnian forces....  


The Saudi Bombing, Associated Press, August 14 
 
	Six Muslim militants have confessed to the 
truck bombing that killed 19 U.S. servicemen in 
Saudi Arabia, a Saudi opposition figure said 
Wednesday, but he predicted it would be weeks 
before authorities announce the details.... 
	Another London-based Saudi opposition 
group, the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate 
Rights, said last week that two Kuwaiti and two 
Lebanese suspects were arrested in Kuwait.... 
	The Committee for the Defense of 
Legitimate Rights quoted Interior Ministry sources 
in Saudi Arabia as saying that "the whole 
interrogation process revolves around the possible 
implication of Iran."... 
 
 
Mullahs React to Sanctions that They Call 
Ineffective, The Wall Street Journal, August 14 
 
	GENEVA — ...Mohammad Jawad Zarif, 
Iran's deputy foreign minister, said yesterday that he 
and his colleagues in the Iranian government have 
embarked on diplomatic and legal initiatives to avert 
the economic isolation of Iran.... 
	At the same time, Iran is thumbing its nose 
at the U.S. by announcing plans to supply natural 
gas to Europe and to the Indian subcontinent a day 
after signing a $20 billion contract to sell natural gas 
to Turkey, a member of NATO and a key U.S. ally in 
the region.... 
	In Washington, a State Department 
spokesman expressed skepticism about Iran's 
grandiose natural-gas plans, questioning whether 
Iran "has the natural-gas deposits to fill the needs of 
two continents, in effect." The official added that 
Tehran might be hard put to meet demands from 
Europe and India, in addition to Turkey, "as they use 
so much of their gas to try to keep their oil wells 
running." 
	To the U.S., Iran is a major sponsor of 
international terrorism and is on the prowl for 
nuclear technology.... 


The Nature of Terrorism, Voice of America, August 
12 
 
	Do not confuse terrorism with immigration, 
warns Vincent Cannistraro, former counter-terrorism 
operations chief at the CIA. Islamic newcomers to 
America are not a danger to the country.
	Cannistraro: "The nature of terrorism today 
is not a bunch of radical Islamic activists running 
around threatening American society. The real 
problem is foreign states which are basically 
supporting terrorism against democratic regimes for 
their own political ends. Any kind of anger, kind of 
focus on domestic militants from the Middle East 
really misses the whole point. This misplaced 
concern is dangerous because it does not analyze 
correctly the nature of the threat."  
	Mr. Cannistraro says exaggerating an 
internal threat risks alienating many good 
Americans for no discernible benefit.  
	Michael Eisenstadt of the Washington 
Institute for Near East Policy agrees the threats come 
from abroad, primarily Iran. While Libya and Syria 
have reduced their terrorist activities, Iran has 
carried out assassinations of opposition figures in 
Europe and fomented violence in the Persian Gulf 
states.  
	Mr. Eisenstadt says Europeans have reacted 
too mildly:  
	Eisenstadt: "They have had a very 
permissive policy with regard to Iranian agents they 
picked up. There have been a number of cases that 
Iranian agents involved in assassination cases in 
Europe, instead of being arrested and prosecuted, 
have been turned over to Iranian embassies or sent 
back home. And that clearly just encourages further 
terrorism when there is no price to be paid for their 
involvement." 
	Mr. Eisenstadt recommends reducing the 
size of Iranian embassies where plots are hatched....