BRIEF ON IRAN	
No. 606	
Wednesday, March 5

Representative Office of 
The National Council of Resistance of Iran
Washington, DC 

Call On Iranian People To Aid Quake Victims, Iran Zamin News Agency, March 4
	Maryam Rajavi, the Resistance's President-elect, called on the nation to
rush to the aid of the Ardebil earthquake victims, sending their donations
away from the access and intervention of the mullahs' regime who only
plunder the people.
	Mrs. Rajavi asked those families who can afford to care for the orphaned
children and take them to the warmth of their own homes and families.


Quake Leaves Iranian Villagers Homeless, The New York Times, March 4
	... Villadaragh, one of more than 80 villages affected by the quake...
	"Those who have survived are dying inside because they have lost
everything," said Gafur Lutfi, a farmer and beekeeper from Villadaragh...
	"We just don't have enough beds," said Kamer Kaboudi, a nurse at a hospital
in Ardebil. "We only have four beds in the intensive care unit and they are
already full. I don't know what we'll do when more patients come in."


International Women's Day, ANSA (Italian News Agency), March 1
	A call by the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, for the
formation of a united front of democratic forces against fundamentalism has
been welcomed in many European cities, including Rome where the Democratic
Association of Iranian Women has helped sponsor a gathering; 'Women's
Solidarity against Fundamentalism', hosted by the City Hall and the boards
of the provinces of Lazio and Mark...


A New "Security Threat", Voice Of Mojahed, February 28
	In reaction to extensive public support for the Resistance's satellite
program, Simaye Moqavemat,, the mullah's regime Minister of Guidance
described this "cultural offensive" as "unprecedented and relentless". Iran
daily, affiliated with the mullahs' news agency, quoted this minister as
saying:  "This cultural offensive is a serious move, the combat of which
requires much planning"...
	Last week, one of the Guards Corps commanders, Rahim Safavi, warned that
the satellite has turned into a security threat for the regime.


More Urban Maneuvers, Daily State-run Keyhan, Feb. 26
	The second phase of maneuvers by Ashoura and Al-Zahra Battalions were held
in the eastern regions of Isfahan province.  
	Some 15,000 members of Bassij were organized into 28 Ashoura and 5 Al-Zahra
battalions.  In the exercise, troops deployed new techniques and tactics to
ensure the security of pre-defined sites in each city.  Inspection
checkpoints were set up at every city entrance.


Iran Fuels Armenian-Azeri Dispute, Reuters, March 4
	TBILISI - Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other on Tuesday of massing
weapons along a cease-fire line separating them...
	Azeri Deputy Security Minister Galip Haligov said arms were being shipped
from Russia across the Caspian Sea and through Iran, before going over land
to Armenia.
	[On February 27, Agence France Presse  reported that four Islamic militants
standing trial in Baku pleaded guilty to charges of spying for Iran]


U.S. Economic Offensive Against Iran's Energy Industry Is Bearing Fruit, The
Washington Post, March 3
(continued from BOI 605)
	... Analysts said the possibility of U.S. sanctions and U.S. pressure on
European banks are only partly responsible for the dearth of investment in
Iran. They said some potential investors have been discouraged by the
difficulty of doing business with the militant Islamic regime there, by the
fact that the Iranians do not offer very good terms and by the availability
of projects in other countries that pose fewer risks...
	By catching up with the foreign loan repayment obligations last year, the
Iranians apparently regained access to limited amounts of short-term export
guarantee credits from the French and Spanish equivalents of the U.S.
Export-Import Bank. However, these credits reportedly carry interest rates
of more than 15 percent, far above the current market rate.
	At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Iranian
Central Bank governor Mohsen Nourbakch said in an International Herald
Tribune interview that Iran has obtained more than $5 billion in
government-backed loan guarantees from Europe and Japan over the past 18 months.
	U.S. officials, however, ridiculed this claim as "creative accounting" and
"disinformation."
	"The Iranians play to the desire of some people in Europe to put their
pocketbooks ahead of their brains," a senior administration official said.
"They can find some private lenders," such as Germany's West Deutsche
Landesbank, which recently arranged a $160 million loan package for a
domestic Iranian company developing the Soroush oil field, according to the
trade press. But the official added that the Iranians "pay a high price for
this money. The big European lenders are not massively backing projects."