BRIEF ON IRAN No. 618 Friday, March 21, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC Iran Seeks Better Gulf Ties, But Road Choppy, Reuters, March 20 DUBAI - Iran is actively seeking friendly ties with its Arab neighbors across the Gulf, but the Islamic republic has a long and choppy way to go to restore trust with Gulf Arab states, analysts and officials said on Thursday.... Relations with Saudi Arabia, the most influential Gulf country and custodian to Islam's two holiest shrines, have been tense since Iran's 1979 revolution and as usual are further strained before the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.... Arab diplomats said Velayati received a "less than enthusiastic" reception in Bahrain, which last year accused Iran of links to a plot to topple the government... Velayati Leaves Without Meeting UAE President, Agence France Presse, March 20 ABU DHABI - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati left here Thursday without meeting Sheikh Zayed ben Sultan al-Nahayan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, whose country has a territorial dispute with Iran. Velayati arrived Wednesday in the UAE, the last leg of a tour of the six Gulf Arab states to invite their leaders to the annual Organization of Islamic Conference summit in Tehran in December. UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sultan ben Zayed al-Nahayan met Velayati who handed him a message from Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani inviting Sheikh Zayed to the OIC summit.... Velayati held talks with the heads of state of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE during his six-country tour. He repeated on each visit that Gulf security was the responsibility of the countries in the region, implicitly criticizing the US military presence in the Gulf.... Official Admits Oil Workers Still in Jail, Radio Israel, March 14 Alireza Mahjoub, a deputy from Tehran said that 20 oil workers who took part in demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Oil in Tehran last month are still in jail. Western news agencies had reported the arrest of 300 workers. Guards Corps Holds More War Games, State-controlled daily Resaalat, March 13 The Guards Corps' 17th division staged an operational-combat exercise near Qom, south of Tehran. The seven-day maneuver involves a bridge, an anti-aircraft battalion and the division's armored regiment in a 100 square kilometer area. The division commander said that the exercise essentially combines armored units with infantry forces. The aim is to maintain their combat capability against surprise action by the enemy. National Security Council Meets, Tehran Radio, March 16 In the last session of the National Security Council for the current year, the latest security incidents and problems were considered. Interior Minister Besharati summarized the state of security across the country and the remarkable achievement of the government in maintaining security. Swiss Citizen Returns Home From Iranian Prison, Agence France Presse, March 19 BERN - A Swiss citizen jailed for two months in Iran arrived back in Zurich Wednesday following his release from prison Sunday, a foreign affairs department spokesman here confirmed. Daniel Boumann, who traveled to Iran on a tourist visa, was arrested and imprisoned in Tehran on January 12 along with a South African friend, spokesman Livio Zanolari said. Boumann, who was working for a humanitarian evangelist association International Assistance Mission in Turkmenistan, had apparently been making contacts with religious minority groups in Iran, to the consternation of the authorities. "Officially, it is not clear why he was arrested," Zanolari said, adding there were no problems with his visa.... Iran Starts Paying Russia for Controversial Nuclear Power Plant, Agence France Presse, March 19 MOSCOW - Iran has given 80 million dollars to Russia as partial payment for the construction of a nuclear power plant fiercely opposed by the United States and Russia, the deputy minister for atomic energy said Wednesday. Yevgeny Rechnikov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying the money amounted to 10 percent of the 800-million-dollar project agreed to in January 1995....