BRIEF ON IRAN   
No. 481
Wednesday, August 21, 1996

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


U.N. Body Condemns Clerics' Regime for the 38th Time, Agence France Presse,
August 20

        On Tuesday, the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
Protection of Minorities condemned "the increase in the number of murders of
members of the opposition abroad in recent months."
        In the resolution issued by the Sub-commission, it expressed deep 
concern
over harassment of the families of Iranian exiles inside the country and the
clerical regime's schemes aimed at compelling Iranian refugees to cooperate
with the Intelligence Ministry against the Iranian Resistance .
        The Sub-commission, which includes 26 experts, noting that 
investigations
in "Germany, Italy and Turkey, have underlined the role and responsibility
of Iranian officials and services in planning of extrajudicial political
murders," demands that the Iranian government take immediate steps to end
"extrajudicial murders of political opponents" and state-sponsored 
terrorism....
        [NCR President Massoud Rajavi in a statement, welcomed the 
adoption of the
resolution and said: "... the time has now come for the world community to
expeditiously refer the abysmal human rights record of Tehran's rulers to
the United Nations Security Council for adopting binding decisions and
instituting specific punishments against this medieval regime."]


S. Africa Reduces Oil Import from Iran, Radio France Internationale, 
August 19

        The South African Minister of Energy and Mines announced that his
government is planning to reduce its import of oil from Iran, which would be
replaced by countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq.


Iran Pins Hope on Petronas Deal to Ease Isolation, Reuters, August 20

        Tehran is banking on Malaysia's Petronas acquisition of a 30 
percent stake
in a project to develop two oil and gas fields in Iran to deflect intense
U.S. efforts to isolate the Islamic republic....
        But the key question now is whether other companies will follow 
suit in the
face of tough new U.S. moves to penalize non-American firms that invest in
energy projects in Iran and Libya, analysts and diplomats said.
        "Iran is trying everything possible to break the sanctions and the
isolation," said an oil industry executive in the Gulf.
        "But the Americans aren't joking and other companies like ours 
are likely
to remain cautious. Iran is a risky market."...
        "This is outright defiance. It will be seen by Washington as open 
defiance
of Clinton's bill," said one analyst. "At the same time, companies will be
taking a risk if they invest in Iran."...


Dirty Deals
with A Terrorist Regime

[The following are excerpts from reports by Reuters on August 19 & 20]

        (       ISLAMABAD - Pakistani and Iranian officials on Tuesday 
discussed a
multi-billion dollar gas pipeline deal that could be affected by U.S.
sanctions against Tehran, an official Pakistani statement said.
It said the meeting also "underscored the need of finalizing the details of
the project expeditiously so that physical work ...could start without any
further loss of time."  The pipeline, estimated to cost between $3.5 billion
and $4 billion, is designed to bring Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and
then take it to India....
        (       ANKARA - Turkey will soon begin buying electricity from 
its eastern
neighbor Iran to help make up an expected power shortage, a senior official
said on Monday.


Six Students Expelled from Isfahan University, Iran Zamin News Agency, 
August 19

        Six protesting students, opposed to the regime, in Isafahan's San'ati
[Industrial] University were expelled.  Three of the students were
reportedly involved in last year's strikes.
        Last year, Isfahan University witnessed continuous and extensive
demonstrations and confrontations.  The regime's authorities, extremely
concerned over the matter, have attempted to use various excuses to expel
the students.


Minister Foresees a Dark Future for Iran's Agriculture, Radio Israel, 
August 17

        Issa Kalantari, the Agriculture Minister, in an interview with 
daily Salam
said that unfortunately Iran was not advanced in agricultural research.  He
added that this ministry did not have experts, and in [Rafsanjani's] First
Development plan has not been successful in research at all.  Kalantari said
that with the recent decisions, Iran will be facing disturbing situation
regarding nutrition in a near future.  He then added that he did not foresee
a bright future unless a major revision is made...  Kalantari also blamed
the weakness of agriculture on industrial weakness...