BRIEF ON IRAN No. 587 Wednesday, February 5, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC Tehran Says It Has Arrested Missing Iranian Writer, Reuters, February 3 Tehran says it has arrested Faraj Sarkuhi, an Iranian journalist whose disappearance has caused concern in Germany, the Bonn Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Bonn also said documents provided by Iran to prove Sarkuhi visited Germany last year -- when he says he was being tortured in detention -- were probably false. "The good news is that the whereabouts of Sarkuhi have been cleared up," Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Erdmann told a news conference. "But the bad news is that last night our ambassador was told that Sarkuhi had been arrested in Bushir in south-west Iran on Sunday, February 2, allegedly trying to leave the country illegally," Erdmann said. Sarkuhi, the editor of the monthly Adineh (Friday), says Tehran is trying to use him as a pawn to counter accusations against Iran made by German prosecutors in a Kurdish dissident assassination case.... Sarkuhi was first reported missing last November, when he was due to fly to Germany to visit his wife. She says he never arrived.... [In a 14-page handwritten letter, Sarkuhi] said he had been held by the Iranian secret service and forced under torture to confess in a taped interview that he had spied for Germany. He said he believed authorities intended to use the confession in a row with Germany over an accusation by German prosecutors that Iranian leaders ordered the killing of three Kurdish dissidents and their translator in Berlin in 1992.... Iran's Oil Production Falls Under OPEC Quota, Reuters, February 4 The performance of Iran's massive but aging onshore oilfields has been thrown into the spotlight after recent accusations from within its own parliament, Gulf analysts said on Tuesday. Crude output has fallen because of a lack of government investment and poor maintenance, a member of Iran parliament's oil commission said last month. Mohsen Yahjavi sounded oil industry alarm bells when he said Iran's production had fallen 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) below its OPEC quota of 3.60 million bpd and that a further fall of 110,000 bpd could be expected if funds were not made available. "This was the first official stamp on reality," said one Western oil executive who has regularly worked in Iran's oil sector.... Any onshore difficulties would also highlight the National Iranian Oil Company's (NIOC) need to attract foreign investment.... Figures reported by the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) show that exports of onshore crude from the Kharg Island terminal have fallen to 2.12 million in bpd last year from 2.20 million bpd in 1995 and 2.37 million bpd in 1994.... The Youth Joins Opposition, Afrique Asie, February 1997 ...Thousands of sympathizers, especially the youth, constantly cross the border and join the National Liberation Army. This has further worried the Iranian regime. The regime took on the futile mortar attack against the Mojahedin headquarters in Baghdad. The prestige and praise received by [the Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi] —described by her supporters as the symbol of struggle against the...mullahs rule— influences American specialists. Especially since her army currently has 30,000 troops, men and women, and enjoys armaments with an approximate value of $2 billion, including British Chieftain tanks and American personnel carriers.... Stricter Suppressive Measures In Iran, Iran Zamin Weekly, January 27 A report from Tehran says following riots in Iran, security forces have tightened control and narrowed the streets to inspect both pedestrians and cars. The patrols also set up security checkpoints every night after 9 o'clock and inspect everyone under the pretext of combating improper veiling. Security patrols have begun controlling weekend mountain climbers as well. The checks and inspections are again carried out under the pretext of combating improper veiling.... Another campaign has been launched to collect satellite dishes, reports from Ardebil say.... Sometimes, the regime uses very humiliating and cruel ways to discourage satellite watchers. For example, after seizing the receiver of a woman and her daughter who lived alone in a house, a sign was posted on the top of their door which read: "House of Corruption."... Quakes Rock Northeastern Iran, Agence France Presse, February 4 Two strong earthquakes rocked a mountainous region of northeastern Iran within half an hour on Tuesday.... The temblors shook villages surrounding Bojnurd, the main town in a border region with the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan with a total population of 200,000. Twelve villages around Bojnurd were flattened and a dozen others were 80 percent destroyed....