BRIEF ON IRAN 
No. 621	
Wednesday, March 26, 1997

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


Iran Slams Norway's Call For Punishment Over Rushdie, Agence France Presse,
March 25

	TEHRAN - Iran on Tuesday dismissed Norway's call for economic sanctions
against Tehran over the Rushdie affair as unwarranted and unrealistic...
	Norway on Wednesday called for international economic sanctions to be
imposed on Iran in response to the 1989 death sentence decreed against
British writer Salman Rushdie.
	"We feel that the time has now come for joint, coordinated international
action," Norwegian state secretary Jan Egeland said in a speech before the
UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
	Iranian radio also slammed Norway's call Tuesday, saying in a commentary
that Norway "does not realise that its support for Rushdie brings it into
confrontation with the Islamic world."...


Austrian Customs Seize Iran-Bound Weapons, Associated Press, March 24  

	 VIENNA, Austria -- Customs and police officials last month intercepted an
Iran-bound shipment of hydraulic equipment for use in long-range cannon, a
magazine  reported Monday...
	 The 20 boxes had been declared as "machine parts," the [weekly Profil]
magazine reported, but were  in fact hydraulic and other equipment used in
the 155-millimeter GH N-45 Noricum  cannon. 
	 The Finance Ministry, in charge of issuing special permits for sensitive
exports, was  investigating a Swiss company, Technology Trading Ltd., and an
Austrian transport  company, according to the magazine. Ministry officials
were not immediately available for comment. 


Germany Fears Trouble After Iran Trial Ruling, Reuter, March 25

	BONN - Germany's anti-extremist watchdog said on Tuesday it feared violence
next month when a Berlin court rules on gangland-style assassinations for
which prosecutors blame Iran.
	The trial of five men for the 1992 murder of three Kurdish-Iranian
opposition leaders and their translator has severely strained relations
between Germany and Iran, which rejects prosecutors' accusations of "state
terrorism."
	... Last year protesters marched on the German embassy in Tehran, pelted it
with eggs and tomatoes, and called for the death of state prosecutor Bruno
Jost after he accused Iran of ordering the assassinations.
	German prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Tehran's Intelligence
Minister Ali Fallahiyan in connection with the assassinations -- a move
which also provoked fury in Iran against Germany, its biggest trading partner.


Stay Tuned, New York Times, March 25

[Excerpts from a column by Thomas L Friedman.]
	WASHINGTON -- Ever since the June 25, 1996, bombing of the U.S. military
complex in  Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in which 19 Americans were killed, U.S.
officials  have been grappling with the question: Was this an inside job --
just  disgruntled Saudis acting on their own -- or was this an
inside-outside  job, disgruntled Saudis acting with Iran, Iraq or Syria?...
	Last Tuesday Canada arrested Hani Abdel Rahim Sayegh, a Saudi  Shiite who
U.S., Canadian and Saudi officials suspect played a role in the  Dhahran
bombing, possibly as one of the getaway drivers. ...  The raw evidence
gathered on Mr. Sayegh apparently includes telephone  conversations between
him and his family (who are still in Saudi  Arabia), and between him and
individuals in Iran (speaking in Persian). In  these  conversations he makes
oblique references that suggest a possible  involvement  in the Dhahran
bombing, and he intimates that some of his cohorts fled at  one  time to
Iran. Mr. Sayegh refers in one conversation to some of his  colleagues being
in  "the country of Rafsanjani." Hashemi Rafsanjani is President of Iran.
Among  Mr.  Sayegh's Saudi Shiite colleagues who possibly fled to Iran are
the  suspected mastermind  of the bombing, identified as Ahmed Mughasil, and
another colleague, Ali  al-Khuri. Iran  denies knowledge of any of them, and
yesterday Mr. Sayegh denied complicity in the bombing.
	 The Canadians apparently also suspect Mr. Sayegh had contacts  with
Iranian diplomats in Canada.... 
	Officials stress that while they have some circumstantial evidence that
Iran may be linked to the Dhahran bombing, there is still no "smoking gun."
Intelligence officials, though, are looking at new reports  that an Iranian
intelligence officer who goes by various code names,  including "Sherifi"
and "Abu Jallal," acted as a liaison between Teheran  and Saudi Shiites in
Lebanon...
	 The big question now is, will the new suspect arrested in Canada sing,
and what will he sing?...