BRIEF ON IRAN Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran No. 510 Wednesday, October 2, 1996 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 Mullahs' Intervention in Bahrain, The Associated Press, October 1 MANAMA, Bahrain — A special security court handed down prison sentences ranging from six months to five years to 15 men convicted of anti- government activities. The State Security Court convicted the men Monday of destroying public property and endangering human lives in arson attacks on a bakery, a restaurant and a car.... Besides arson, the Gulf Daily News and several Arabic-language newspapers said Tuesday that nine of the accused were found guilty of making and possessing explosives. They did not elaborate.... The government maintains the campaign for change is a cover for a terrorist conspiracy instigated by Iran to set up a Shiite Islamic state in Bahrain.... U.S. Condemns Death Sentence on Iranian Bahai, Reuters, October 1 The United States on Tuesday urged Iran to annul a death sentence passed on a member of the Bahai faith and to release the convicted man. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Washington understood that Musa Talibi had been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for "apostasy," a word used in Iran to mean abandoning Islam. "The United States government strongly condemns this conviction and calls on the government of Iran to repudiate it immediately, to release Mr. Talibi from custody, and to guarantee his safety," Burns said in a statement. "We further urge that the government of Iran release all other Bahais imprisoned on apostasy charges," he said, adding that Iran should stop persecuting Bahais and members of other religious minorities.... More "Spies" Arrested, Punished, State-Run Radio, September 30 With the efforts and non-stop labor of the unknown soldiers of the era's Imam, several networks spying for foreigners ... were destroyed and their members were punished for their deeds.... The director of Intelligence [of the Kermanshah province] said that during the last year, 25 criminal elements... were arrested and received the punishments that they deserved.... He asked people to have more vigilance toward the "elements of foreign countries." Widespread Shortage of Medicine, Iran Zamin News Agency, October 1 A senior official of the Health Ministry acknowledged the severe shortage of medicine in Iran. Larijani, the Health Ministry's deputy minister of medications said in a television broadcast that the shortage of certain medications has always existed in Iran. The governments' officials have been constantly stating that 97% of the pharmaceutical products needed in the country is manufactured in Iran and not long ago, Rafsanjani claimed that there are no scarcity of medicine and deficiency of medical treatment in Iran. Iran Rattling Sabers Against U.S., Pinkerton Risk Assessment, September 27 On September 24, a senior Iranian commander warned that the US military build-up in the region could result in war between the US and Iran.... Iran began "Sacred Defense Week" on September 22 - a series of military exercises linked to the anniversary of the 1980 beginning of the war with Iraq. The Iranian press also speculated that the US is preparing to strike at Iran... While it is unlikely the current situation will escalate to a war between Iran and the U.S. at this juncture, Iran is clearly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the future. It already has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the Third World, a naval force capable of temporarily closing the Persian Gulf and, with the assistance of Russia and China, may have nuclear weapons in the relatively near term. Almost since the 1978-79 revolution, the "Mullahs Regime" has sought to become the "superpower" of the region. Its attempt to spread its political influence is evidenced by the fact that Iran is hosting a conference for 13 Muslim nations, on October 22, to draft a charter for an inter- parliamentary union among Islamic countries. The Shi'ite Muslim government, considered a sect by mainstream Sunni Muslim neighbors, is unlikely to gain serious influence through diplomacy, however, it is rapidly reaching a point where it is becoming the "bully on the Middle Eastern block."