BRIEF ON IRAN	 
No. 592	
Wednesday, February 12, 1997 
 
Representative Office of 
The National Council of Resistance of Iran	
Washington, DC  
 
 

German Opposition Postpones Visit to Iran, 
Reuters, Feb. 11 
 
	Germany's opposition Social 
Democrats (SPD) said on Tuesday they had 
postponed a visit of parliamentary deputies to 
Iran scheduled for the end of the week.... 
	Iran's relationship with 
Germany...has become strained in recent 
months by a pending German court decision 
on the 1992 killings of three Kurdish 
dissidents and their translator in a Berlin 
restaurant.... 
	[Prior to the SPD's decision, the 
representatives of the NCR met with Dr. 
Christoph Soupel, a high ranking official of 
the parliamentary group. They drew his 
attention to the latest developments in Iran 
and emphasized that such a trip would be a 
generous and unreasonable gift to the mullahs 
who would depict the visit by SPD delegation 
as a sign for their progress and legitimacy. 
The NCR representatives called for the 
cancellation of the SPD visit to Tehran.] 
 
 
Iran, Isolated?, Reuters, Feb. 11 
 
	Iranian state radio on Tuesday 
blasted Reuters as a "Zionist" news agency for 
a news analysis about Iran's foreign 
relations.... 
	The radio was commenting on a 
news analysis by Reuters which quoted 
analysts and Tehran-based Western diplomats 
as saying Iran was one of the world's most 
diplomatically isolated states....[See BOI No. 
591.] 
 
 
Iran's Export of Instability to Africa, Iran 
Zamin News Agency, February 11 
 
	South African media report that 
Mozambique has signed an agreement with 
Iran, allowing the use of its ports by the 
Iranian navy. 
	On Tuesday, the Business Day daily 
published an article by a Jane's Defense 
Weekly correspondent indicating that the 
agreement between the two countries was a 
done deal and Iran intended to station its three 
kilo-class submarines at Mozambique's Indian 
Ocean ports. 
	The article reported that since the 
submarines were the primary target in any 
conflict involving Iran, Tehran eyed the 
African ports in the Indian Ocean as a safe 
haven for the Russian-made submarines. The 
article predicted that such a deal could result 
in the exportation of the conflict to 
Mozambique and its neighbors with serious 
repercussions. 
 
 
Iran Pressing Hezbollah To Escalate Attacks, 
Agence France Presse, February 11 
 
	Iran has stepped up financial and 
military aid to the Hezbollah militia in 
Lebanon so the guerrilla movement can 
expand attacks on Israeli forces occupying the 
south of the country, an Israeli press report 
said Tuesday. 
	The daily Haaretz, quoting a senior 
Israeli intelligence source, said Hezbollah and 
Iranian officials met recently in the Syrian-
controlled Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon to 
discuss increasing Tehran's assistance to the 
movement.... 
	Foreign Minister David Levy said 
earlier this month that Iran had already 
sharply increased arms shipments to 
Hezbollah.... 
	Haaretz reported that another 
shipment of weaponry from Iran arrived in 
Hezbollah camps last week.... 
 
 
Arms Dealer Charged over Iran Military Deal, 
Sunday Times, February 9 
 
	One of the Conservatives' most 
prominent private donors has made damaging 
claims against the Tory party after being 
arrested by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) 
and charged over an alleged fraud involving 
defense equipment for Iran. 
	The accused man, Mohamad 
Hashemi, a former multi-millionaire arms 
dealer who has done work for MI6, claims to 
have made at least three donations totaling 
£85,000 to the party in the 1980s and early 
1990s during the period after the government 
announced an embargo on the sale of defense 
equipment to Iran. 
	Hashemi also claims the donations 
enabled him to meet Margaret Thatcher to 
discuss easing sanctions against Tehran. He 
says that during the course of these meetings 
he passed personal messages to and from 
President Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran, a close 
relative.... 
	Hashemi was arrested by Scotland 
Yard fraud squad detectives after allegations 
by an American company that he had 
defrauded it of $1.3m (£850,000) over a £50m 
contract to supply satellite telephones to the 
Iranian ministry of defense..... 
	Through one of his London 
companies, Tagell UK, Hashemi became 
involved in some of the largest arms deals in 
the Middle East, including a contract to 
export £50m of nuclear, chemical and 
biological protection suits to Iran. 
	In a second contract, Hashemi 
arranged to supply more than £350m of 
Silkworm radar-guided missiles from China to 
Iran.... 
 
 
Sunni Mosque Remains Closed, Radio France 
Internationale, February 9 
 
	In a statement issued in Paris, the 
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran 
announced that following last month's events 
in Kermanshah, the city's Shafeii [Sunni] 
mosque continues to be shut down. The 
mosque remained closed today and the Sunni 
Muslims were not allowed to enter the mosque 
to perform their religious ceremonies marking 
the end of Ramadhan. 
	According to the statement, the city 
is once again very tense. The KDPI called for 
the openning of the Sunni mosque.