BRIEF ON IRAN No. 600 Tuesday, February 25, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC The Most Savage Regime, Iran Zamin News Agency, February 20 Swedish press today reported on parliamentarian discussions concerning the mullahs' regime. In his remarks about Iran, the foreign minister of Sweden said: "The Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran, is the world's most savage regime. It has been eight years since Khomeini issued Rushdie's death sentence. Meanwhile, pursuit and arrest of (Iranian) writers and journalists has recently escalated." Prosecution of Minorities as "Spies", Reuters, February 24 TEHRAN - Iran has denied that its courts sentenced two men to death because they followed the Bahai faith, describing Washington's version of the case as "utterly fabricated and spiteful." The official news agency IRNA quoted the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Courts, Gholam Hoseyn Rahbarpour, as saying the two men were convicted of spying for Israel.... More Urban Maneuvers: Who is the Enemy?, State-run TV, February 22 Yesterday, the military exercises of Ashoura and Alzahra Battalions were held in city of Qazvin (80 miles west of Tehran). During these maneuvers, which included 11 battalions, the troops took their position in various entrances and exits of the greater Qazvin metropolitan area, and accomplished their pre-defined objectives. [It should be noted that in August of 1994, Qazvin was the scene of a major popular uprising] Frightened from Resistance's TV, Pezhvak (Swedish National Radio-Farsi Service), February 22 Following the escalation of clashes between Mojahedin's resistance units and the security forces of the Islamic Republic which have taken place in cities like Sari, Isfahan, Zahedan, and several cities in Iran's western provinces, Ayatollah Yazdi, the head of judiciary of Islamic Republic also acknowledged theses clashes. Moreover, according to some reports, which have also been confirmed by Pezhvak's informed sources in Tehran, the Mojahedin's television programs, which is beamed into Iran via satellite, can be easily viewed by those Tehran residents who have access to satellite dishes. Recently a senior official of the Revolutionary Guards warned that the "cultural assault" via satellite network could become a security threat for the Islamic republic. Iran Stock Exchange Weighed Down By New Issues, Reuters, February 24 DUBAI - Iran's stock exchange has proved the exception among surging global equity markets, losing more than six percent in value this year under the weight of new issues and disappointing company results. Tehran Stock Exchange All Shares Price Index (TEPIX) -- which tracks the performance of 225 listed local firms -- has fallen to 1,843.53 points from 1,969.24 at the start of the year, representing its steepest fall since 1993 when the exchange lost 14 percent in value that year.... "These days the number of people going to the Tehran bourse is less than that of customers at a neighborhood grocery store," the local Akhbar newspaper said last week in a critical article which called for more company disclosures. Business Booming for Iranian Foundation Seeking Rushdie's Head, Agence France Presse, February 23 The Iranian revolutionary foundation which has set a 2.5-million-dollar bounty on the head of British author Salman Rushdie is doing good business, exporting some 10 million dollars of goods a year, a newspaper reported Sunday.... The foundation has even pledged to pay interest accumulated since the reward was first promised.... 19 Killed In Bus Crash in Iran, Agence France Presse, February 22 Nineteen people were killed and 18 others seriously injured when a bus collided with a truck in southeastern Iran, a newspaper reported Saturday.... Iran has the highest rate of traffic accidents in the world with 205,000 collisions reported last year for some three million cars here. Around 5,000 people were killed. Iran Vows To Hold Rally At Moslem Pilgrimage, Reuters, February 24 TEHRAN - Iran vowed on Monday that its pilgrims would defy a Saudi ban and hold a rally to denounce the United States and Israel at the Moslem haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in April, state-run Tehran radio said. It quoted Iran's haj supervisor Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshahri as saying: "The disavowal of infidels is the high point of the social goals of haj... We should try with all our power to perform the true haj as revealed to us by the late Imam (Khomeini)."...