BRIEF ON IRAN Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran No. 484 Monday, August 26, 1996 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 German Opposition Demands An End to Iran Ties, Associated Press, August 24 Opposition leaders demanded Saturday that Germany cut ties with Iran if it can be proven that Iranian leaders ordered the deaths of opponents abroad. Social Democratic and Greens representatives in parliament said that testimony last week by a former Iranian president provided strong support for a U.S. law punishing foreign companies that invest heavily in Iran and Libya.... German prosecutors have said that the testimony could lead to investigations against Khamenei and Rafsanjani.... Opposition leaders said there was enough in the testimony to justify "a sharp reaction" by the government. "If it turns out that Iranian leaders were responsible for the death order, then one should not have diplomatic relations with such a regime," Wilfried Penner of the Social Democratic Party told Hessen broadcasting.... Terror Planned in Tehran Before TWA Crash, United Press International, August 24 Leaders of international terrorist groups met in Iran to plan subversive acts several weeks before the July 17 crash of TWA Flight 800, reports said Saturday. Several of the groups, which are known to be funded by the government of Iran, have been linked to terrorist acts against Americans in the past. The New York Times reported that intelligence officials are investigating whether the meeting was connected to the TWA crash, which killed all 230 aboard.... One group at the Tehran meeting, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been linked to airplane bombings in the past and its leader, Ahmed Jabril, came to the conference to ask for permission to carry out terrorist acts against U.S. interests, the Times quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying. Another terrorist group reported to be at the meeting was the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which has been linked to the 1983 suicide bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut. Another group was the Egyptian branch of Islamic Jihad, which has been connected to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman who was convicted last year of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks. News Overview Mullahs Intensify Aggression Against Kurds News agencies reported last week that the Iranian military bombarded Kurdish areas in the Iraqi Kurdistan. The leader of the Iraq's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Wednesday that Iranian artillery attacks, in support of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), resulted in 100 casualties. The Iranian Resistance condemned the savage shelling of the Kurds by the mullahs' military and called on the UN to take immediate actions against Iran's aggression. The State Department urged the Kurdish groups to exercise maximum restraint and not give the Tehran regime an opportunity to interfere. News agencies reported that a cease-fire was brokered by the U.S. to end hostilities in the Kurdish region. However, Reuters reported on Saturday that the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) said: "Iranian troops have entered northern Iraq to prepare a new assault on Kurdish guerrillas and refugees.... [KDPI] said Iran had sent more troops to the region in the past few days to launch fresh attacks." The United Press International said on the same day that the London representative of the KDP urged the United States "to 'apply pressure' to the PUK with two aims. First, to get the PUK to stop attacking the KDP. Second, 'to stop the PUK's collaboration with Iran, which is backing them.'" The UPI also reported that "the Saudi- owned newspaper al-Hayat said Saturday that a White House official had confirmed reports that Iran was providing military support to the PUK. The unnamed official told the London-published newspaper that he could not give the extent of the assistance, 'but there is no doubt that there is artillery support.'" On Sunday the Associate Press reported: "A U.S.-brokered truce to end fighting between rival Kurdish factions fizzled after one day when Iran reportedly sent troops into northern Iraq to participate in the battle.... The Kurdistan Democratic Party said Sunday that fighting had resumed.... The party's statement... said the attack by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan killed six people. It also said hundreds of Iranian Revolutionary Guards had entered the region to support the Union forces." The Iranian regime, facing the Resistance's advances and uprisings by the Iranian people, has no option but to resort to greater suppression of Iranians, export of terrorism and further aggressive acts in the region.