BRIEF ON IRAN Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran No. 552 Thursday, December 5, 1996 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 China's Deadly Trades with Iran, The Wall Street Journal, Excerpts from op-ed by Mark Yost, December 4 ...China has been a major supplier of arms to Iran since the 1980-'88 Iran-Iraq war. In September, the two countries reached an agreement valued at $4.5 billion in Chinese combat aircraft, missiles and warships. According to Asharq al- Awsat, a London-based Arabic daily, the agreement is expected to be finalized this month. According to the newspaper, China has sold Iran approximately $3 billion in weapons over the past few years and has transferred weapons technologies as well, helping Iran to build domestic industries for producing missiles, helicopters and artillery. This assessment is confirmed by Western military and intelligence sources.... In addition to arms sales, China has agreed to build two 300-megawatt nuclear power reactors in Iran.... The U.S. has objected to the power plant construction, saying that the reactors can be used for an Iranian nuclear weapons program.... According to U.S. Navy sources, China has also sold Iran 400 tons of chemical agents, giving it the largest chemical weapons stockpile of any Third World country. These chemical agents, according to the U.S. Navy, could be placed in warheads atop Chinese-made surface-to-surface missiles that Iran has placed along the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil supply flows.... Iranian Resistance Warns Against Tehran's Warmongering Threats, Iran Zamin News Agency, December 4 The NCR issued a statement on Wednesday saying that in an interview yesterday, the Deputy Commander of the Guards Corps of the mullahs' regime made some terrorist threats and declared: "All the neighboring countries should understand that Iran is the only power capable of creating security, free flow of oil and stability in the Persian Gulf." The NCR said that the remarks by the Deputy Commander of the Guards Corps "are but a bid to blatantly threaten and blackmail the states in the region, particularly those in the Persian Gulf." The Guards' Commander's remarks coincide with the ten-day maneuvers of the regime's naval forces in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and the receipt of a third submarine from Russia.... Kuwait Warns Gulf Arabs of An "External Danger", Reuters, December 4 Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Saad al- Abdulla al-Sabah on Wednesday warned fellow Arabs in the oil- rich Gulf region of an unspecified expansionist external danger. "The real danger that threatens the security and stability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is an external danger," said Sheikh Saad, whose country is a member of the GCC along with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.... Sheikh Saad did not specify the source of the danger.... Iran's Majlis Bans Western Terms, Reuters, December 4 Iran's parliament on Wednesday approved a law that bans both the government and private sector from using Western terms in reports and speeches and halts their use on consumer goods. Alarmed by growing signs of Western cultural influences in Iran, especially among youth, the law seeks to crack down on producers and distributors of products decorated with Western alphabets and symbols.... Incomplete Projects, BBC Radio, December 2 The daily Resalat has an article about the next year's budget submitted to majlis by Rafsanjani. The article refers to the incomplete projects that the government has not completed or, contrary to majlis' requirement, has not accorded them to the private sector. According to Resalat, the number of these projects is 1,301, some of which started in 1958, about 40 years ago.... Reading Rate, Kayhan, November 13 In the ceremonies which concluded the Book Week in Hamedan, Khayrandish, general director of the center for mental development of children and adolescents, said: The rate of reading books and newspapers is 180 hours per year in Japan, it is 120 minutes in the United States, 135 minutes in France, and not more than two minutes in our own country. Cover For Girl Students, Jomhouri Eslami, November 21 In the first gathering to examine the ways of enforcing the veil in Tehran's girl schools, an Education Ministry official said: Though the acceptable cover for students has been announced to be a loose garb and pants, but the educational policy, still being pursued, advocates "the special cover" which is the black veil and maqna'eh [a large scarf covering the neck and shoulders].