BRIEF ON IRAN
No. 555
Tuesday, December 10, 1996

Representative Office of
The National Council of Resistance of Iran
Washington, DC


Mullahs, Major Players in Saudi Bombing, ABC World News Tonight, December 6

	Six suspects are in custody who the Saudis claim are part of a group called
Hezbollah Gulf, supported by Iran and believed responsible for the [June
Khobar Towers] bombing.  Saudi sources say the suspects only played a
support role for the actual bombers....
	... During their interrogation, the six men provided details of what the
Saudis say is a terrorist network supported from the outside.
	While at a Shiite religious celebration in Syria, the men were recruited by
an Iranian intelligence agent.  During the next year and a half, they spent
time in Iran's holy city of Qom and two Hezbollah guerrilla training bases...
	The details do support one disturbing conclusion for which the US has its
own growing body of intelligence: that Iran was a major player in the
terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers.


Iran Reportedly Boosts Hezbollah Arms, United Press International, December 9

	JERUSALEM - Iran has delivered huge quantities of weapons in recent months
to southern Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv
said Monday.
	With "an unprecedented amount of support" from Iran, Hezbollah had
recovered from Israel's offensive into Lebanon in April, which targeted the
Party of God guerrillas, the daily said.
	The weapons delivered since April -- primarily Sagger and Sarella anti-tank
rockets -- arrived on dozens of flights from Iran to Damascus, then were
trucked across the Syrian border to Lebanon, the newspaper said, quoting an
unidentified Israeli military official....


Mullahs Attack Albright Nominations, Reuters, December 7

	DUBAI - Iran on Saturday called Madeleine Albright, nominated as President
Bill Clinton's next Secretary of State, an "unsuccessful diplomat" known for
her hostile policies against the world of Islam and Iran.
	It was widely believed she was an advocate of aggressive foreign policy and
U.S. intervention in various parts of the world, the official Iranian news
agency IRNA quoted the Persian-language daily Iran as saying in an editorial....


Perry Warns China on Arms Sales to Iran, United Press International, December 9

	Defense Secretary William Perry has told (Monday) his Chinese counterpart,
Gen. Chi Haotian, that arms sales to Iran are a threat to U.S. interests in
the Persian Gulf but could also be a threat to China's interests... Perry
told Chi such weapons sales could "backfire" by increasing instability in
the region, a Pentagon official says.


Iran Tests Chinese Missile, Reuters, December 9

	DUBAI - The Iranian navy has for the first time fired a Chinese-built C-802
anti-ship missile from one of its 10 Houdong patrol boats during exercises
in the Gulf last month, Western military officials said on Monday.
	They said Iran had fired the C-802 missile in January but that last month's
test was the first one from the Chinese-built Houdong, which Iran had
received fitted to fire the missile....
	U.S. officials had said Iran's acquisition of the radar guided C-802
missiles, which they expect to be eventually operational on about 20 Iranian
vessels, was a new dimension in the naval threat in the oil-rich region.... 


Iran's New Military Exercises Raise Concerns, Reuters, December 7

	DUBAI - Iran's ground forces have begun a week-long military exercise in
southeast Iran, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said late on Friday....
	It comes days after Iran concluded 10 days of maneuvers in the Gulf
involving 40 planes, helicopters and some 100 ships, as well as Iran's two
Russian-built submarines.  The exercise raised concern inside and outside
the oil-rich region...


Gulf Countries Take Tough Line on Iran, United Press International, December 9

	DOHA - Gulf leaders ended their annual summit Monday with resolutions
condemning Iran, Iraq and Israel.
	The five Gulf Cooperation Council countries took a particularly tough line
on Iran, accusing the non-GCC country of siting missile batteries to
threaten Gulf Arab installations....
	At the same time, the GCC "expressed regret for the implications of
developments in northern Iraq and called upon the countries that interfere
in northern Iraq to stop" their interventions.
	These countries were not named but were taken to be Turkey and Iran....