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.