Terrorist Threat In Bahrain, The New York Times, April 8

WASHINGTON - The United States has uncovered the outlines of a terrorist plan by dissidents in Bahrain to attack American troops stationed in the country and has put its forces there on alert, administration officials said today…

… at least one plan by members of Bahrain's Shiite Party of God to attack American military personnel has been detected in the last few days… Although the United States has not uncovered a plot with a date and location, a Pentagon official described the plan as "serious."…

The Bahraini Party of God has connections to Shiite dissidents in Saudi Arabia and to the main Party of God, financed by Iran, in Lebanon.

Regime Mounts Pressure On Germany Ahead Of Mikonos Trial Verdict, Agence France Presse, April 8

TEHRAN - Iran has stepped up pressure on Germany on the eve of a crucial verdict in the trial in Berlin of five men accused of killing Iranian opposition leaders on the direct orders of the Iranian regime.

The Iranian judiciary said Monday it plans to try 24 German companies for allegedly providing Iraq with chemical weapons or technology during its 1980-1988 war against Iran. It said the defendants would be called to appear in a Tehran court… "Certain" German officials will also be targetted by the Iranian suit ...

Kayhan … warned in an editorial that "the West and Germany will be made to pay a price for their offense to the sacred values" of the Islamic republic…

Foreign diplomats in Tehran … questioned the validity of the case as the accusations come nearly nine years after the end of the conflict with Iraq and there was no detailed list of the firms involved…

German federal prosecutors said in summing up their case that the trial had cast light on "Iranian state terrorism" and Tehran's "death machine…"

[In Paris, the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement condemning the "blatant schemes and blackmail," and called on the German government "to confront the mullahs' pressure and provide a suitable environment within which Germany's judiciary can carry out its sensitive mandate..."]

Fuel Price Hikes Fuel Discontent, BBC Radio, April 6

On the second day after the Tehran government raised gasoline and oil product prices, reports from downtown Tehran indicate that taxi drivers have increased their fares accordingly. This has led to heated exchanges between passengers and drivers, who blame the 20% fuel price hike for their own fare hike.

[Agence France Presse reported on April 5 that Iran had "increased the costs of gasoline and other fuels by between 20 to 30 percent as part of efforts to gradually remove massive subsidies…

"The hike in fuel costs is the third since March 1995, when prices doubled... The authorities are however held back by a fear of rising inflation and popular discontent which could be touched off by high fuel prices."]

U.S., North Korea To Hold Missile Sales Talks, Associated Press, April 8

WASHINGTON - The United States, concerned about past North Korean missile sales to the Middle East, will hold talks with North Korea on that subject for the first time in almost a year, the State Department said Tuesday…

The United States wants North Korea to join an international agreement to restrict exports of such weapons…

According to U.S. officials, North Korea has sold long-range Scud missiles to Iran and Syria

Tremor Jolts Northwest Iran, No Casualties, Reuter, April 8

TEHRAN - An earthquake on Tuesday jolted an area in northwestern Iran where a quake killed nearly 1,000 people a few weeks ago, the Iranian news agency IRNA said…

The quake, measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale, hit at 10:44 a.m. (0614 GMT), the agency said.

In late February, an earthuake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale killed nearly 1,000 people and injured more than 2,500 in Ardabil. It left 36,000 people homeless in the snow-swept mountainous region.

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