BRIEF ON IRAN No. 607 Thursday, March 6, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC 200 Schoolchildren Killed In Iran Quake, AFP, March 5 TEHRAN - Around 200 schoolchildren were killed in the earthquake which hit the northwestern region of Ardabil last week, an education official said Wednesday. Hassan Noi-Aqdam, a member of a team sent to Ardabil by the education ministry, said 90 schools were destroyed or severely damaged in Friday's quake in Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan. Isfahan's Wool Industry Workers Go On Strike, Iran Zamin News Agency, March 5 According to a NCR statement, on Saturday, March 1, workers at Isfahan's Wool Industry went on strike at the factory site. They did so in protest to their terrible living condition, and the non-payment of their salaries and bonuses, badly needed on the eve of the Iranian New Year (beginning on March 21). According to the reports from Isfahan, the security forces and Intelligence Ministry agents rapidly arrived at the site, arresting several workers and threatening others with dismissal. US Proposes Caucasian Gas Route To Turkey To Avoid Iran Option, AFP, March 5 ANKARA - The United States has called on energy-starved Turkey to drop a deal to buy natural gas from Iran and instead take gas from central Asia via an alternative route, an energy source said Wednesday... "The objective is to prevent Turkey, a leading US ally, from doing energy business with Tehran, as the US considers Iran a terrorist state," an expert on international energy matters told AFP... Despite Erbakan's efforts to boost political and economic cooperation with Iran, ties between Ankara and Tehran deteriorated last month as the two countries moved to expel each other's diplomats... Hezbollah Said To Have Stinger Missiles, United Press International, March 5 JERUSALEM - An Israeli newspaper says Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas now have US-made, anti-aircraft missiles that could threaten Israeli air superiority. The mass-circulation Ma'ariv newspaper, citing unnamed sources, says the Israeli army was preparing for attacks from Stinger shoulder-launched missiles in southern Lebanon. Ma'ariv says Hezbollah, or Party of God, probably received the missiles from Iran, which in turn would have obtained them from Muslim guerrillas in Afghanistan... Commentary Rafsanjani's Removal Aggravates Internal Crises The upcoming presidential elections' farce, which is to remove Rafsanjani as the head of the executive branch, has aggravated the crises within the mullahs' regime. Ali Khamenei, the Vali-e Faqih, or supreme jurisconsult, had previously supported the candidacy of Ali Akbar Nateq Noori, the speaker of the clerical parliament. Last week, however, he backed down from his position and claimed to be impartial, recognizing anyone who wins the majority vote. These ridiculous remarks in a regime whose elections are but a worthless theatrics, more than any thing else indicate Khamenei's concern over the heightening of hostilities among the regime's internal factions. It is for this reason that he warned the government officials on February 15 to "beware of the seductions of the enemy and watch for its conspiracies." It is already determined that Nateq Noori's name is the one to emerge from the ballot boxes. In the crisis-riddled regime of the mullahs, however, this theatrics has itself become the subject of an intense tug of war. Each of the three clergies running for presidency is making various efforts. Nateq Noori believes that he will definitely be Rafsanjani's successor. He enjoys the backing of 170 members of Majlis, and this has very much reinforced his position. The rival faction, Mohammad Khatami is not sitting idle either. He has also collected the support of 170 present and former members of Majlis and makes repeated use of documents in which he has been praised by Khomeini. He also enjoys the support of the Assembly of Clergies (former Imam's line) and the supporters of Rafsanjani. According to a report from within the regime, however, the supporters of Rafsanjani do not have any consensus in supporting Khatami. Therefore, the issue of supporting Khatami has turned into a subject for argument among the two factions mentioned above. Mohammad Rayshahri, the third clergy running for presidency, has a smaller chance, but he believes his greatest service to the nation was preparing the grounds for the revision of the Constitution, thereby deposing Montazeri as Khomeini's designate successor in 1988. He says, had he not done this, the regime's future would have definitely been in question. By making such remarks, the ruling mullahs try to play down the impact of the crisis caused by the elimination of Rafsanjani from the executive branch. Experts agree, however, that in the time of the escalation and growth of the activities of the forces of the Iranian Resistance in Iran, Rafsanjani's removal would even further weaken the decadent regime.