BRIEF ON IRAN	 
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran
	No. 519	
	Wednesday, October 16, 1996 
 
 
3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 


Mullahs' Intervention in Kurdish Fighting, Reuters, 
October 15 
 
	...[Commander of KDP forces in the town of 
Degala, Robitran] Ibrahim told Reuters his men had 
captured Iranians fighting alongside the rival Patriotic 
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) group and sent them to the 
KDP stronghold of Salahuddin. 
	"We arrested several enemy fighters with 
eight Iranians among them," he said.... 
	Barzani's group is to cite what it says is 
Iranian military support for its rival at a meeting with 
U.S. officials in Washington this week.... 
 
 
Turkey In Contact With Iran Over Iraqi Kurds, 
Reuters, October 15 
 
	Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller said on 
Tuesday Turkey was in contact with neighboring Iran 
about its alleged backing for a Kurdish group 
embroiled in fighting in northern Iraq.... 
	"We have received certain information along 
the lines of Iranians inside (Kurdistan Patriotic Union 
of Kurdistan leader Jalal) Talabani's forces," she said. 
	Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic 
Party (KDP) has accused Iran of sending troops, arms 
and ammunition into northern Iraq to help the PUK 
in fighting between the two groups.... 
 
 
Intimidation of Women Continues, Radio Israel, 
October 13 
 
	A statement signed by theology students and 
distributed in Tehran expressed alarm towards 
women's efforts to achieve equal rights and play a real 
role in society. 
	The statement described the new 
phenomenon as growing feminist tendencies and ... 
warned that should the situation continue, the 
signatories will carry out their religious duties, i.e. 
coercion and intimidation of women in the same 
manner as that of Afghanistan's Taliban. 
 
 
Iran Rial Slides on Strong Demand for Hard Cash, 
Reuters, October 15 
 
	The Iranian rial has in the past few weeks 
weakened by more than five percent against the U.S. 
dollar on strong demand for hard currencies, money 
dealers said on Tuesday. 
	In Dubai, a major trading post for Iranian 
private business and state firms, one dollar cost 4,640 
rials, up about 300 rials or seven percent on a few 
weeks ago, one trader said.... 
	Iran banned free currency exchange in May 
1995, setting the official exchange rate, after a drop in 
the value of rial to 7,000 per dollar which followed 
the announcement of a United States trade and 
investment ban against the Islamic republic.... 
 
 
Iran's Youth Trying to Get Out, The Wall Street 
Journal, October 11 
 
	This country's Islamic government is fond of 
bashing America for economic sanctions, blaming the 
U.S. for Persian Gulf instability, even warning of an 
imminent military attack by the nation once known as 
the "Great Satan". 
	But young Iranians have a different reason 
for resenting America:  They can't get in. 
	"Can you help me get a visa?" a government 
worker asks.  "Why does your government not allow 
us to visit?" a student wants to know.  "Is it possible 
to get political asylum in the U.S.?" whispers a hotel 
employee.... 
	Most Iranians say they plan only a brief visit 
to the U.S. to study or to see relatives.  Some privately 
concede that they might not return. 
	Many middle-class Iranians have to work 
three jobs to keep up with prices that double every two 
years.  Half of Iran is under the age of 25... 
	Iran's "new youth," as some people in Tehran 
call them, can't remember the 1979 revolution.... 
	... Iran is fighting to avoid losing its 
intellectuals, and its Islamic ideals, to the West... 
	The Islamic regime is "getting worried," says 
a Western diplomat, adding that several religious 
scholars have proposed suspending all scholarships 
for overseas study and importing professors to 
teach.... 
	Times are tougher in Iran.  Grappling with a 
severe shortage of hard currency, Iran last year 
banned importation of Western stereo components, 
cigarettes and candy.  "We don't have that much free 
cash to give to anybody to bring Marlboros into Iran," 
says Dori Najaf Abadi, a member of the Iranian 
Parliament.... 
	According to Tehran travel agent Abbas 
Joulaie, "The people less than 30, if the visa will be 
granted, most of them will not come back."  Some 
tour operators now require cash deposit ranging from 
$3,000 (for travel to Western Europe) to $13,000 (for 
Canada)....