BRIEF ON IRAN	 
No. 569	
Thursday, January 9, 1997 

Representative Office of 
The National Council of Resistance of Iran	
Washington, DC 20007  
 
 

Mortar Explosion In Baghdad, Agence France 
Presse, January 8 
 
	Several dozen people were injured 
and a man died of a heart attack when mortar 
shells exploded near the offices of Iran's 
armed  opposition movement in Baghdad 
overnight, an opposition spokesman said 
Wednesday. 
	Three mortar rounds launched from a 
truck targeted the People's Mujahedeen offices 
in the Iraqi capital, but instead hit a hospital, 
a medical laboratory and the Iraqi writers 
union bureau, Mujahedeen spokesman Farid 
Soleimani said. 
	All the casualties were Iraqis, 
including the man who died of a heart attack 
when the blast startled him in his bed in a 
hospital cardiology unit, he said. 
	Some of the injured were children. 
	Soleimani accused Iran of carrying 
out what he described as the biggest of the 
many attacks it has directed at the 
Mujahedeen offices here in the last four 
years.... 
	"The destruction we saw this 
morning is amazing, it's like a war scene," 
Soleimani said. 
	Three "supermortar" launchers 
operating on a time-delay system fired three 
440-pound mortar rounds packed with 275 
pounds of explosives, Soleimani said.... 
	The People's Mujahedeen bureau, on 
the east bank of the Tigris River near the 
Sheraton Hotel and the French embassy, was 
not hit.... 
	Shells of the type used in Tuesday's 
attack and their launchers were seized by 
Belgian police on March 14, 1996 in the port 
of Antwerp during a search of the cargo of an 
Iranian ship later intercepted in Hamburg. 
	Soleimani said Iran launched the 
attack in retaliation for the Mujahedeen's role 
during an uprising in western Iran.... 
	The Mujahedeen said on December 6 
that dozens of Iranians had been killed and 
hundreds injured in violence that erupted after 
the death in disputed circumstances of a Sunni 
Moslem cleric in Kermanshah, western Iran. 
	Radio Tehran confirmed that clashes 
had taken place.... 
 
 
Blast Caused Heavy Damage to Clinical 
Facilities, Reuters, January 8 
 
	...One of the mortar bombs caused 
heavy damage to the Central Health Labratory 
with windows smashed, ceilings collapsed and 
sophisticated equipment ruined. 
	"Thank God the attack did not 
happen during office time, otherwise many of 
my employees would have been killed," 
deputy director of the laboratory, Dr. Fa'iq 
Mohammed Hassan told Reuters on 
Wednesday.... 
	Ibrahim Zakeri, chairman of Anti-
terrorism Committee of Mujahideen Khalq 
told a news conference the group "has the 
legitimate right to defend itself." 
	Mohammed Mohaddessin, head of 
foreign affairs said the group leader, Massoud 
Rajavi, urged the Iraqi government to 
prosecute the attackers and close down the 
Iranian embassy in Baghdad. 
	"Our leader has called on the Iraqi 
government to punish the criminals and close 
the Mullahs' embassy in Baghdad which is 
used by the regime as a nest to carry out its 
criminal attacks," he said.... 
 
 
Iraq Blames Iran for Blast, The Associated 
Press, January 8 
 
	Iraq blamed Iran today for a mortar 
explosion in a downtown square near the 
headquarters of an Iranian opposition group. 
One person was killed and several were 
injured. 
	Three mortar shells were fired 
Tuesday night from a truck parked 600 yards 
from the offices of the Mujahedeen Khalq, 
which is opposed to the Shiite Muslim 
government of neighboring Iran, the Interior 
Ministry said. 
	"All signs point to the Iranian 
regime's involvement in this terrorist 
operation," the official Iraqi News Agency 
quoted the ministry as saying. 
 
 
U.S. Considers Iran A Terrorist State—
Albright, Agence France Presse, January 8 
 
	Madeleine Albright, the Secretary of 
State designate, announced on Wednesday 
that the United States considers Iran a 
terrorist state and urged Washington's 
European allies to destroy all the bridges with 
Tehran. 
	Albright, speaking at her Senate 
confirmation hearing..., announced that the 
U.S. government will continue to "explain to 
its friends and allies that Iran is a harmful 
player and a danger as far as export of 
terrorism is concerned." 
 
 
Italian Senator Criticizes Velayati's Visit, 
Kronos (Italian News Agency), January 8 
 
	Senator Rosso Spena...criticized the 
Italian government for Iranian Foreign 
Minister Velayati's visit who met with Foreign 
Minister Dini yesterday.... 
	The Italian Senator said: "Our 
foreign policy should not be limited to finding 
markets; economic expansion cannot replace 
human rights, on the contrary, human rights 
must be the central point for the foreign 
policy."...