BRIEF ON IRAN No. 564 Monday, December 23, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032, Washington, DC 20007 Iran Developing Long-range Missiles, Reuters, Dec. 20 A German newspaper said on Friday Iran was developing missiles based on the Russian Scud and North Korean Nadong systems with a range of 5,500 km (3,500 miles). Quoting unidentified western intelligence services, the Bild daily said the missiles were capable of hitting targets in Europe from bases in Iran and could carry a 770 kg (1,700 lb) payload of poison gas or bacteria. Klaus Rose, the chairman of the German parliament's defense committee, said the report could be true. "It is a genuine threat," Rose told Saar radio. "The reports are credible."... He said the missiles were designed with the capability of carrying conventional explosives as well as chemical weapons. Rose said the know-how for the missiles was coming from North Korea and Russia.... Six Dissident Iranian Kurds Murdered, Iran Zamin News Agency, December 22 A dissident Iranian Kurdish group, the Union of the Revolutionaries of Iranian Kurdistan, announced that on December 7, 1996, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraq [PUK] —which has close ties to the Iranian regime— attacked the residences of this group, 30 kms from Sulaymania in Iraqi Kurdistan. The attackers captured six of the unarmed members of the Iranian Kurdish group and transferred them to Salam Garrison in Sulaymania where they were murdered. The corpses of these individuals were found near Sulaymania bearing scars of torture and barbaric treatment prior to their execution. Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the murders and conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims. Mr. Rajavi urged international human rights organizations to immediately examine this case and prevent the murder of Iranian citizens in the Iraqi Kurdistan. "Foreign Media's Scandal!", Radio Israel, December 21 In its today's issue, Tehran's Keyhan daily wrote that [the missing journalist Faraj] Sarkuhi's return to Iran is another scandal for the foreign media and their associated circles.... The daily Keyhan Quoted Sarkuhi as saying in a press conference in Tehran's airport that "while I was staying in Germany, I was in contact with my friends in Iran." However Sarkuhi's friends and colleagues never reported such contacts with him during the past seven weeks.... Minutes after news agencies' reports regarding Sarkuhi's press conference, the German officials strongly reiterated that he had never entered Germany and that the report was not correct.... Foreign reporters who were invited to last night's press conference at Tehran Airport privately said that the press conference was a pre-planned sham by the government and Sarkuhi was forced to say what he said. [Earlier this year, Faraj Sarkuhi had participated in efforts for organizing an independent writers' guild in Iran.] News Overview U.S. Mulls Possible Response To Iran In Saudi Bombing The Washington Post, December 22 Although they insist it is premature to plan any retaliation against Iran for complicity in the bombing of a U.S. military housing compound in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans, U.S. officials have begun to think about possible responses if the investigation turns up incontrovertible evidence of Iranian involvement.... Saudi Arabian authorities investigating the June bombing of the Khobar Towers high-rise have delivered information to U.S. officials reflecting Saudi belief that the bombing was carried out by Saudi Shiite extremists trained in Lebanon and supported by the Iranian government.... [Earlier this month, the ABC-TV quoted U.S. officials as saying that the details given to U.S. by the Saudis "do support one disturbing conclusion for which the U.S. has its own growing body of intelligence: that Iran was a major player in the terrorist bombing of Khobar Towers."] With outgoing Secretary of State Warren Christopher as the point man, the Clinton administration has long branded Iran as global public enemy No. 1. "We continue to regard Iran as a dangerous projector of terrorism, a country that's dangerous because they're trying to assemble weapons of mass destruction, and a dangerous country because of their efforts to undermine the [Middle East] peace process," Christopher said at his farewell news conference on Thursday.... But the United States has not persuaded allies to join in this economic isolation campaign. If there were conclusive proof of Iranian complicity in the bombing in Saudi Arabia, officials said, that might persuade allies to support a United Nations sanction resolution. If so, that would be the first and most obvious course to pursue, officials said....