BRIEF ON IRAN	 
No. 596	
Wednesday, February 19, 1997
 
Representative Office of 
The National Council of Resistance of Iran	
Washington, DC  
 
 

Clashes with Regime's Forces Spread to Central 
Iran, Iran Zamin News Agency, February 17 
 
	On Monday, the People's Mojahedin of 
Iran issued a statement and reported that clashes 
between resistance forces and the regime's 
Guards Corps spread to the central Iranian 
province of Isfahan, where "a number of the 
regime's suppressive forces in Isfahan were 
killed." 
	The statement said that "the regime's 
Ministry of Intelligence is alarmed at the 
expansion of the Mojahedin's operations and 
activities throughout the country. It 
preposterously claimed that the Mojahedin had 
brought their "guns, grenades and weapons" 
from Iraq to Isfahan." 
	The spread of clashes to the northern 
and central Iranian regions in recent weeks 
"indicates the escalation of the Iranian people's 
resistance all across the country," the statement 
said. 
 
 
Paper Warns About Consequences of Refinery 
Workers' Strike, Reuters, February 17 
 
	...The Kar va Kargar (Work and 
Worker) newspaper on Monday urged oil 
officials to accept the workers' demands and 
allow recognized unions free activity. 
	"If we do this, then secret organizations 
will not arise ..." the daily said.... 
	Iranian governments have always been 
especially sensitive to protests by oil workers 
who at crucial times have proved capable of 
stopping the flow of crude exports which bring 
in the bulk of Iran's hard cash. 
	A strike late in 1978 by Iran's 100,000 
oil workers shut down the industry and played a 
key role in the victory of the Islamic revolution 
in Iran. 
	[Quoting reports from Iran, Iran Zamin 
News Agency reported on Tuesday that the 
security forces were still stationed at Tehran's 
refinery. The statement indicated that the 
striking workers were arrested after they were 
supposedly called into the Oil Ministry building 
for negotiations. According to the statement, 
Mr. Rajavi, NCR's President, "appealed to 
international human rights organizations for 
urgent action to free and save the lives of the 
imprisoned oil workers."] 
 
 
Italy Given Nudge by Albright, The Washington 
Post, February 17 
 
	...A State Department official said 
Albright "leaned on" the Italian leaders to 
curtail their business dealings with Iran and 
Libya, which supply Italy with 42 percent of its 
oil imports. She argued that the European policy 
of "critical dialogue" had not deterred Iran from 
embarking on a military modernization 
program, providing weapons to terrorist groups, 
and building up its nuclear capability. 
	U.S. officials said Albright told Dini 
that she was disturbed by Italy's treatment of 
"rogue states." She later told a press conference 
that "supporting states that support terrorism is 
a real problem for us."... 
 
 
Egypt Says Iran Supporting Egyptian Militants, 
Reuters, February 17 
 
	Egyptian Interior Minister Hassan el-
Alfi said Iran and Sudan continued to support 
the militant Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic 
Group), the largest organization fighting to 
overthrow the Egyptian government. 
	In a statement to the consultative 
chamber of parliament on Sunday, Alfi said 
Iranian support was channeled through an 
Iranian embassy outside Egypt.... 
	In January one of Mubarak's senior 
aides, Osama el-Baz, said Iran was using Sudan 
as a "Trojan horse" to infiltrate Africa.  
 
 
Rushdie "Stalked by 24 Hit-Men", United Press 
International, February 16 
 
	Two dozen Iranian hit-men have been 
expelled from Britain during the past eight years 
for trying to kill Salman Rushdie... ", a 
published report said Sunday. 
	Speaking to the Independent on 
Sunday, Rushdie revealed the Iranians' intent to 
carry out the death sentence, or fatwa, and to 
claim the bounty, recently raised to $2.5 million. 
	...Several times, he had been told by the 
security services, teams of assassins had been 
dispatched to London.... 
	All of them, said Rushdie, had been 
Iranian government agents, contradicting claims 
that the Tehran authorities were not intent on 
pursuing the fatwa.... 
 
 
UN Urges Sweden Not to Expel Iranian 
Dissident, Agence France Presse, Feb. 14 
 
	The United Nations urged Sweden on 
Friday not to expel an Iranian dissident seeking 
asylum in Stockholm as the activist would likely 
be mistreated on his return to Tehran by Iranian 
authorities. 
	The UN Committee against Torture 
ruled that Kavegh Yaragh Tala..."should not be 
forcibly returned to his home country as he 
likely would be subjected to torture," a UN 
statement said. 
	"Substantial grounds exist for believing 
that the author would be in danger of being 
subjected to torture if returned to Iran," the UN 
torture committee said.