BRIEF ON IRAN	 
No. 580	
Monday, January 27, 1997 
Representative Office of 
The National Council of Resistance of Iran	
Washington, DC  
 

Intelligence Ministry Agent Convicted for Complicity 
in Murder of Dissidents, Iran Zamin News Agency, 
January 24 
 
	The NCR issued a statement of Friday saying 
that: "The Criminal Tribunal of Istanbul today 
convicted an Iranian Intelligence Ministry agent, 
Reza Barzegar Massoumi, for complicity in the 
murder of Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, a leading member of the 
National Council of Resistance, and Mr. Ali Moradi, 
a sympathizer of the movement." Massoumi was 
sentenced to 33 years and 4 months imprisonment. 
	The victims were gunned down on February 
20, 1996, in an apartment in Istanbul, by a hit squad 
dispatched from Tehran several days earlier. The 
mullahs' consular secretary, Mohsen Kargar Azad, 
commanded the hit squad. 
	After the great scandals in Geneva, Paris, 
Rome and Berlin, this the fifth country where the 
agents of the mullahs' religious, terrorist dictatorship 
are tried and punished by the judiciary. 
	The NCR welcomed the decision by the 
Criminal Tribunal of Istanbul and called for the 
continuation of investigations and the prosecution of 
criminal agents and leaders of the mullahs terrorist 
dictatorship. 
 
 
Senior Cleric Says Iran Is A Power "Commanding 
Fear in The Region", Reuters, January 24  
 
	A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday Iran 
had become a military power commanding fear in the 
region.... 
	"This country has become a military power. 
Our power has reached such a level that others fear it 
and America constantly expresses concern over it," 
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in a mass Friday 
prayer sermon broadcast on Tehran radio.... 
	His remarks came a day after Iranian 
President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Tehran 
would "powerfully respond to any possible U.S. 
military measures and reveal to the world the real 
power of Iran."...

 
Iranian Kurdish Organization Declared Alliance with 
Iranian Resistance, Iran Zamin News Agency, 
January 26 
 
	"Mr. Seyed Jalal Hosseini, the prominent 
religious leader of Iranian Kurdistan and General 
Secretary of the Organization for National and 
Islamic Struggle of Iranian Kurdistan (Khebat), met 
with Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National 
Council of Resistance, and declared the determination 
of his organization to have lasting alliance with the 
National Council of Resistance and the People's 
Mojahedin of Iran. Mr. Hosseini said: The Kurds of 
Iran, who have arisen face to face against the anti-
Islamic and anti-human regime of the mullahs, see it 
a national duty to support the NCR and Mojahedin," a 
statement issued by the People's Mojahedin of Iran 
said on Sunday. 
 
 
Two Men Arrested in Probe of Nerve Gas Shipment 
to Iran, Los Angeles Times, January 26 
 
	An Irvine man and his business partner were 
arrested Friday on suspicion of conspiring to ship 
chemicals that could be used to make nerve gas to 
Iran, in violation of the U.S. trade embargo. 
	Prosecutors said Abdol Hamid Rashidian, an 
Iranian citizen living in Irvine, and Henry Joseph 
Trojack of Las Vegas conspired to ship impregnated 
alumina. It is used primarily as a catalyst in the 
plastics and rubber industry, but also used to make 
phosphorus-oxychloride, a major component of 
insecticides and the chemical warfare agents VX and 
GB....

 
Overview 
 
Iran's Biological Weapons Program 
The Washington Times, January 24 
 
	Chinese companies have sold equipment to 
Iran that could boost Tehran's large-scale effort to 
produce deadly biological weapons, according to 
Secretary of State Medeleine K. Albright. 
	"We have received reporting regarding 
transfers of dual-use items from Chinese entities to 
Iranian government entities which raise concern," 
Mrs. Albright said in written answers to questions 
posed by Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican. 
	Mrs. Albright said the administration has 
"encouraged China to adopt comprehensive and 
rigorous export controls" to prevent any cooperation 
with Iran's germ weapons program.... 
	According to a Pentagon report released in 
April, Iran launched its biological weapons program 
in the 1980s and is "conducting research on toxins 
and organisms with biological warfare applications." 
	The report said that Iran has a biotechnical 
support structure that is capable of producing "many 
different biological warfare agents." 
	"Iran has evolved from piecemeal acquisition 
of bioprocessing equipment and is now pursuing 
complete biological production plants that could be 
converted to producing biological warfare agents," the 
report said. 
	Pentagon officials fear Iran will "weaponize" 
the germ warfare agents inside warheads for its Scud 
missiles, which have a range of up to 310 miles.... 
	"With a longer-range missile such as the 
North Korean Nodong, it would be able to strike 
targets in Israel, and in most of Saudi Arabia and 
Turkey," the report said.... 
	Mrs. Albright said in her written answers 
that the administration has not yet ruled on whether 
the Chinese transfers for Iran's chemical weapons 
program will trigger U.S. sanctions against Beijing.... 
	The Secretary of State...said she "will give 
priority to preventing the spread of weapons of mass 
destruction."