BRIEF ON IRAN	 
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran
	No. 508	
	Monday, September 30, 1996 
 
 
 
 
3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007  
 
 

"Rushdie Must Be Killed", Agence France Presse, 
September 26 
 
	On Thursday, a hardline newspaper 
[Jomhouri Islami] reiterated that despite the promise 
that Tehran will not send commandos to carry out 
Salman Rushdie's death edict, the British author must 
be killed. 
	[The NCR reported that Jomhouri Islami 
which is associated with Ali Khamenei "put an end to 
all forms of illusion about the mullahs' flexibility 
towards the murder of the British author" and 
"stipulated that aside from the maneuverings of the 
regime's Foreign Ministry, every Muslim is duty-
bound to carry out the decree for Rushdie's murder."] 
 
 
Regime's Agents Convicted in France, Iran Zamin 
News Agency, September 27 
 
	The French legal system sentenced two 
agents of the Tehran regime to 7 and 3 year prison 
terms. 
	The two men, Mojtaba Mashadi and Hosein 
Yazdansata, were harassing the Iranian dissidents 
living abroad and collecting detailed information on 
them in preparation for their assassination. 
	According to Agence France Presse, Mashadi 
was in contact with Iran's secret services. 
Investigations into his possible participation in the 
assassination of an Iranian dissident continues, AFP 
said. 
 
 
"Entrenching Islamic Culture", Iran Zamin News 
Agency, September 29 
 
	According to the government-controlled 
daily Resalat, the head of the Islamic Alliance League 
which is a powerful organization that belongs to the 
dominant hardliners said the next president of Iran 
should be a cleric. 
	Vaez Tabasi, another powerful mullah 
supported that assertion and said that it is a necessity 
in order to "gradually entrench the Islamic culture 
and principles", according to the newspaper, 
	Tabasi added that the control of political, 
executive and judicial affairs, which constitute all 
branches of the government, should be in the hands of 
clerics. 
 
 
News Overview 
Don't Forget About Iran 
The Wall Street Journal, September 23 
 
	...Iran has built a naval force that could 
temporarily close the Strait of Hormuz, through which 
one-fifth of the world's oil flows. With the help of 
China and India, Iran is developing chemical, 
biological and nuclear weapons that make it a threat 
beyond the gulf region.... 
	Senior U.S. Navy officials here say that Iran 
poses the most significant threat to their primary 
mission in the Persian Gulf: keeping the Strait of 
Hormuz open. In the last year, Iran has taken delivery 
of 10 Chinese-made Hegu fast-attack craft and fitted 
them with C-802 surface-to-surface missiles, which 
have a range of 75 miles and carry 1,500-pound 
warheads. Not only are the Hegu capable of attacking 
oil platforms, shipping and coastal defenses, but those 
craft give Iran a mobile ship-launched antiship-
missile capability.... 
	In addition to the ship-borne missile threat, 
Iran has an estimated 400 Chinese-made Silkworm 
and Seersucker antiship missiles and an unknown 
number of Russian-made antiship missiles it bought 
from Ukraine.... 
	...According to U.S. Navy officials, Tehran 
has tripled its number of SA-6 surface-to-air missile 
sites over the past 18 months, to 12 from four. It also 
just bought two Russian-made Kilo-class diesel-
electric submarines, and a third is reportedly on the 
way.... 
	...Iran already possesses the largest stockpile 
of chemical weapons in the Third World; the CIA 
recently told the Senate that Tehran "is developing a 
production capability for more toxic nerve agents and 
is pushing to reduce its dependence on imported raw 
materials" for chemical weapons. 
	Some of this production capability will come 
to Iran courtesy of India.... 
	But when it comes to arming the Iranians, 
China is by far the leader of the pack. In addition to 
missile and fast-attack craft, China two years ago 
agreed —over U.S. objections— to build two 300-
megawatt nuclear power plants in Iran. (Russia is 
building a third, a 1,000-megawatt facility begun by 
Germany's Siemens AG.)... 
	And just in the past two weeks there have 
been press reports that Iran has signed a $4.5 billion 
arms deal with China. The deal, analysts believe, will 
provide Iran with planes, missiles, missile launchers, 
support ships, armored trucks and transport vehicles. 
	While Iran seems to have no limit of arms or 
arms dealers to choose from, the Clinton 
administration has scored some success against Iran 
in the international arena. Western diplomats say that 
last year the Paris Club of Western nations refused to 
let Iran reschedule its debt, largely because of U.S. 
pressure, forcing Iran to complete a number of 
smaller reschedulings at higher rates.... 
	"We've shut off a lot of funding avenues to 
them," says one U.S. diplomat in Bahrain. "And that 
has cost them a hell of a lot of money." 
	That may be true. But given the formidable 
threat Iran poses to the region —not to mention its 
role in the international terrorism— the U.S. should 
be doing more than making it pay a few more points 
on its debt....