BRIEF ON IRAN No. 545 Friday, November 22, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC German-Iranian Tension High as Minister Speaks Out, Reuters, November 21 BONN - Relations between Germany and Iran remained tense on Thursday as a cabinet minister accused Tehran of state-sponsored terrorism and newspapers reacted with horror to Iranian death threats against German prosecutors. Development Minister Carl-Dieter Spranger said the trial in Berlin of an Iranian and four Lebanese accused of the 1992 killing of three Kurdish dissidents had shown Tehran was responsible for the act, and called for an end to Bonn's "critical dialogue" with Iran. "Iran's state terrorism against those who think differently has once again become visible as a result of this trial," Spranger said in Thursday's edition of the Bild daily. Prosecutors' accusations last week that Tehran ordered the shootings provoked anger in Iran. Protesters have rallied outside the German embassy in Tehran, pelting the compound with eggs and tomatoes and calling for the prosecutors to be killed. "The death threats against representatives of the German justice system are intolerable and show how the Tehran regime tramples on human rights," Spranger said. "This removes any basis for so-called critical dialogue."... German media reports that a gathering of clerics in the holy Iranian city of Qom had passed a resolution on Wednesday putting the prosecutors' "insults" in the same category as those in Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" provoked widespread concern. Hassan Rowhani, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, told reporters during a visit to Madrid that the future of relations with Bonn depended on the verdict of the Berlin court, which is expected in January.... Another Kurdish Dissident Assassinated, Iran Zamin New Agency, November 21 Monday, November 18, Mr. Mohammad Nanva, a dissident Iranian Kurd and member of Khebat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, was assassinated near Sulaymania, Iraq, by the Khomeini regime's terrorists. Fifty days ago, the mullahs' mercenaries murdered another Khebat member, Mr. Ali Garmaii, near the Iraqi town of Halabja in Kurdistan. As the Special Representative of the U.N. Human Rights Commission has noted in his latest report, the condition of human rights has clearly deteriorated in Iran in 1996. Likewise, the regime has increased its terrorist actions against the Iranian Kurdish groups and refugees as it has extensively enjoyed a free reign in northern Iraq. Sunni Leader Assassinated in Baluchistan, Iran Zamin News Agency, November 21 Abdol-Aziz Kazemi-Vajd, professor of Zahedan University and one of the leaders of the Sunni religious minority, was abducted on November 12 in Zahedan (southeastern Iran) by agents of the mullahs' regime and subsequently murdered. His bullet riddled body was found two days later 15 kms away from the city. This is the Khomeini regime's third terrorist action this year against the Iranian Sunni leaders. A few weeks ago, a Christian priest was also found hanged in Qa'emshahr, northern Iran. In a statement NCR, condemning this assassination, called on "the world community to show a firm and decisive reaction to the suppression of religious minorities in Iran." Iran Launches 10-day Air, Sea Exercises in Gulf, Reuters, November 21 - Over 100 Iranian navy vessels backed by 40 airplanes and helicopters began a 10-day military maneuver in the Gulf region on Thursday, the Iranian news agency IRNA said. It said Iran's two submarines, along with navy destroyers, missile cruisers, air force units and troops from the army and the Revolutionary Guards, were taking part in the maneuver, code-named "Piroozi (Victory)-7."... Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani last week blasted the presence of Western navies in the Gulf as "a kind of occupation"... Shamkhani said Iran's third Kilo-class Russian-built submarine would leave Russia for Iran on the first day of the exercise.... United Press International, November 21 - IRNA quoted the chairman of the Iranian general staff, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firozabadi, as saying the exercises aim to demonstrate "combat readiness" as well as display the missile capability of the Iranian navy... Iran holds nearly 40 amphibious maneuvers a year. [In a statement from Paris, the NCR stressed: "By staging such maneuvers, the Khomeini regime aims to gain better readiness for the export of terrorism and fundamentalism, tension, and unrest to the whole region...] Report China Recently Sold Missile Technology To Iran, Associated Press, November 21 China recently sold Iran missile technology and components for an advanced radar system, The Washington Times reported today. The paper cited a secret CIA report as saying Beijing also shipped nearly 400 metric tons of chemicals used in producing nerve agents and riot-control gas to an Iranian chemical center.... It said it had obtained a copy of a "top secret" Oct. 2 report titled "Arms Transfers to State Sponsors of Terrorism" that outlined the Iranian transaction.