BRIEF ON IRAN Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran No. 498 Monday, September 16, 1996 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 U.N. Official, Doctors Detained in Iran, Associated Press, September 14 An Iranian-allied Kurdish faction captured four aid workers, then handed them over to Iranian authorities, Kurdish leaders said Saturday. Guerrillas of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan detained the four Friday when they visited a Kurdish refugee camp near the Iranian border. In Paris, Pharmacists without Borders said the four -- a Frenchman, an Iraqi of the medical group, a Canadian official of the United Nations and an Iraqi chauffeur -- were in the hands of Iranian troops.... Revolutionary Guards' Maneuvers, Iran Zamin News Agency, September 13 The state-run Tehran radio reported that the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij forces carried out a military exercise in the areas near the northeastern city of Tabriz. According to Mohsen Rezai, commander of the Revolutionary Guards, 40,000 combat forces participated in the "Covenant with the Leader" maneuvers to demonstrate their fighting capabilities.... Rafsanjani's Visit to S. Africa, The Washington Times, September 14 President Nelson Mandela met with Iran's president on Friday despite criticism from South Africans, fulfilling his pledge to stand by those who supported the struggle against apartheid. Opposition parties and human rights groups argued Hashem Rafsanjani should never have been invited to the country given Iran's record on human rights and its alleged support of international terrorism. The United States considers Iran a terrorism sponsor and is seeking to contain Tehran's influence throughout the world.... [In a statement issued by NCR, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the NCR, condemned the visit to South Africa by Rafsanjani and described comments by the South African President that human rights have improved in Iran as "most shocking and inaccurate." He added: "Overlooking the deteriorating human rights situation of 70 million Iranians, in order to receive oil and petty economic concessions ... is beyond expectation."] News Overview Beyond Iraq, Iran Looms Ever Larger National Journal, September 7 The U.S. Central Command's early- September cruise missile attacks on Iraq highlighted once again the grim fact that the Middle East remains the most volatile region of the world.... The latest confrontation with Saddam Hussein also comes after a summer of mounting concerns over Iran, which many experts consider America's most dangerous nemesis in South-west Asia. With the United States already on edge over the downing of TWA Flight 800, for instance, Defense Secretary William J. Perry indicated in an early August interview that Iran was "possibly" responsible for the terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia in June that killed 19 American service members. On Aug. 5, President Clinton signed the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act over the strong objections of many European allies.... Just when it seemed the United States might be moving toward direct military confrontation with its longtime antagonist, the rhetoric cooled.... ...Iran's continued support of international terrorism has once again moved it closer to the top of the U.S. list of national security concerns. "You have to be very careful—Iran's an easy target...," said Anthony Cordesman, a senior analyst and Mideast expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "At the same time, Iran continues to try and acquire advanced weapons and weapons of mass destruction including chemical and nuclear weapons; it has stepped up its terrorist activities in the Middle East in an attempt to derail the peace process; and it continues to strike at the Iranian resistance abroad through assassinations."... ...A series of troubling incidents in the past year have also raised concerns that Iran may be increasing its sponsorship of terrorism.... The increased zeal that Iran has recently shown in attempting to silence members of the Iranian resistance has also alarmed some observers. According to a June report by Britain's parliamentary Human Rights Group, assassins killed 11 critics of the regime in the first five months of this year, more than in all of 1995. "The rise in assassination of Iranian dissidents, planned and executed from Iranian embassies, shows that the regime is getting more and more aggressive in its use of terrorism," said Nayer Taleb-Jedi, another member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. "You're seeing a clear sign that the Iranian regime will persist in using terrorism as the pillar of its foreign policy." Another such sign that has proven especially troubling to U.S. officials was the discovery of an extremely high-caliber mortar and shells hidden abroad an Iranian freighter in Antwerp, Belgium, last March. Capable of launching a 275-pound projectile nearly a half- mile, the mortar... is thought to have been made in Iran especially for use by terrorists against highly guarded targets impervious to truck bombers.... The [Iran-Libya Sanctions] bill has angered several of America's allies ... but U.S. officials clearly view the European position supporting "critical dialogue" with the regime of Iranian President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani as a failure....