BRIEF ON IRAN No. 579 Friday, January 24, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC UN Urged to Condemn Terrorist Attack Against Resistance, Iran Zamin News Agency, January 23 Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, wrote a letter to Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, addressing the false claims made by the mullahs' UN representative about the Iranian Resistance's "armed cross border attacks"... "from the Iraqi soil." Mr. Rajavi said in his letter that the allegations are a bid to justify the regime's terrorist operations against the Iranian Resistance's bases and centers in Iraq and an effort to prepare the grounds for further acts of terrorism in future. The President of the NCR asked the UN Secretary General and Security Council members to condemn the anti-human regime's criminality against the Iranian Resistance in Baghdad in which it used weapons of mass destruction in a city center. Regime's Security Measures to Counter Spread of Uprisings, Iran Zamin News Agency, January 23 The Khomeini regime's Security Council hastily convened a session to study ways of countering the growing activities of the Mojahedin and the popular uprisings. Headed by Ali Mohammad Besharati, the regime's Minister of Interior, the meeting was attended by the commanders of military, security and intelligence forces. To boost the morale of the regime's demoralized forces, Besharati announced that the "military and security forces and the border keepers" will vigilantly counter any movement... This session and the subsequent remarks by the Minister of Interior come after one month of extensive clashes between the Mojahedin and popular resistance forces on the one hand and the revolutionary guards and the regime's agents of suppression on the other, particularly in the provinces of Kermanshah, Ilam and Khuzistan, where hundreds of guards were killed or wounded. Late last month, for five days in Dasht-e Khuzistan, the regime sent helicopters and armored units to chase the Mojahedin. Since then, air patrols have continuously controlled the area. Mullahs' Encouraging Temporary Marriage Widens the Abuse of Women, Weekly Iran Zamin, January 20 Mullah Ha'eri Shirazi, Khamenei's representative in southern city of Shiraz said in Friday prayer sermon that to prevent corruption among youth, temporary marriage (Sigheh) must be widely sought. He was introducing this measure as an alternative to friendship among members of opposite sex. It must be mentioned that casual friendship between unmarried men and women is prohibited and severely punished. Also, due to widespread unemployment and rising prices, starting a family has become a major dilemma in Iran. On January 14, Afshin Alavi, member of Foreign Affairs Committee of NCR, told daily France Soir: "The regime has organized official prostitution, through the aid network for wives of the victims of war, who are from lower classes. Even worse, the regime permits temporary marriage as a pretext for raping imprisoned girls prior to their execution."... Surge of Hepatic Diseases Iran, Radio Israel, January 21 On Tuesday, an Iranian medical authority announced that 3% of the country's population (approx. 2 million) are carrying hepatic viruses and 200,000 of them suffer from liver disorders... In recent years, lack of medication and proper treatment has been the main reasons for the surge of various diseases in Iran. Wearing Masks to Avoid Air Pollution in Tehran, BBC Radio, January 22 Tehran is said to be the most polluted city in the world after Mexico City. BBC correspondent in Tehran says a green cloud of dust which covers Tehran is so thick that Alborz mountains that surround the city are hardly visible. In the congestion of a multi-lane highway, the number of people who cover their faces with masks to filter the air pollution grows by day. Bad Roads Claim Lives of 8 Schoolgirls and a Driver, Reuters, January 22 TEHRAN - Eight schoolgirls were killed in central Iran when a truck crashed into a bus they were traveling in, a newspaper said on Wednesday. The daily Iran said the driver of the village school bus was also killed and several other students were injured in the accident near Arak, 240 km (150 miles) southwest of Tehran. It did not say when the accident occurred.