BRIEF ON IRAN Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran No. 483 Friday, August 23, 1996 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 Mullahs' Plot to Assassinate Arafat, Associated Press, August 22 A senior Palestinian official accused Iran and militant Palestinian groups of plotting to overthrow the Palestinian Authority, and suggested there is a plot to assassinate Yasser Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, told the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that the plotters plan to kill "symbols" of the Palestinian Authority, Arafat's self- rule government. The authority has information that Iran and radical groups were planning "military operations and assassinations aimed at the Palestinian Authority and its symbols with the aim of overthrowing it," he was quoted as telling the London-based newspaper.... But he said meetings were recently been held in Iran between Iranian officials, Palestinians and militant Islamic groups to prepare the plot. Iran is an outspoken foe of the Israeli- Palestinian peace accords and has links to the radical group Hamas, whose bombing campaign early this year succeeded in derailing the peace process.... Iran Stops Two Years of Efforts to Ban Nuclear Tests, Reuters, August 22 Iran delayed the Conference on Disarmament from taking a decision on Thursday to wrap up its work on a nuclear test ban treaty, drawing the wrath of Western envoys. Iran's envoy Sirous Nasseri set off more than two hours of heated procedural debate on whether to accept a proposal by Pakistan merely to send the negotiating committee's final report to the General Assembly. The conference had been expected to wrap up its work on a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) on Thursday by adopting the committee's report. It summarizes more than two years of negotiations and states that no consensus was reached.... Tehran's Aggression Against Kurds Condemned Agence France Presse, August 22 w On Thursday, the People's Mojahedin, the main armed opposition group against Tehran regime, disclosed Iran's role in the hostilities among Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.... Massoud Rajavi, leader of the People's Mojahedin, "condemned the savage shelling of the Iraqi Democratic Party of Kurdistan by the mullahs' military."... Urging the UN Security Council to "take immediate steps in confronting Iran's aggression," Rajavi assessed that: "Tehran's aggression (against the Kurds) confirms that the Iranian regime has no choice other than resorting to terrorism and suppression."... Reuters, August 22 w A Mujahideen Khalq statement said its leader Massoud Rajavi met in Baghdad the Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) Hassan Rastegar on Wednesday.... "Rajavi emphasized that the Iranian Resistance would continue to stand side by side with their Kurdish compatriots and the resistance movement in Iranian Kurdistan," it said. A spokesman for the group said the meeting "signals a new level of cooperation between Mujahideen Khalq and the Iranian Kurdish oppositions." Iran heavily bombarded targets in northern Iraq in July in pursuit of KDPI guerrillas based in Iraqi Kurdish areas outside the control of the government in Baghdad.... Mujahideen Khalq said Iranian troops had also been shelling KDP positions in Qasri region in Suleimaniya province near the Iranian border over the last two days.... Reuters, August 22 w An Iraqi Kurdish rebel group meanwhile urged the West to halt what it said was Iranian military support for a rival militia in fighting between northern Iraq's Kurds. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) says Iranian artillery has bombarded its positions this week in an enclave protected from Baghdad by a Western allied air force known as Operation Provide Comfort (OPC).... The KDP, led by Massoud Barzani, said on Wednesday that Iranian artillery killed or wounded about 100 people in daily bombardments of northern Iraq this week.... Agence France Presse, August 21 w Washington urged belligerent Kurdish parties in Iraqi Kurdistan to exercise restraint and participate in the peace negotiations which are scheduled to take part in London under the supervision of the United States.... State Department spokesman Glyn Davies assessed that the continuation of the hostilities gives opportunities to "outside players" to interfere in Kurdistan affairs. He was referring to Iran. Pointing to Iran's willingness to increase its role in the region, Davies said: "We just want to explain that Iran cannot have an effective role in northern Iraq."... [AFP also reported that Britain expressed its "concern" regarding the hostilities in northern Iraq.]