Spectators Clash with Security Forces in Tehran's Largest Soccer Stadium, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 16

Quoting reports from Tehran, the NCR said that after a soccer match on Friday, July 11, in Tehran's Azadi Stadium—which has a capacity of 100,000 people—the crowd staged a demonstration and clashed with the security forces and Revolutionary Guards for five hours, chanting slogans against the regime's officials.

"Eyewitnesses said infuriated people threw rotten eggs and tomatoes and surprised the Guards and anti-riot police, who had been stationed in the stadium and in the squares and streets of the surrounding area from hours before," the NCR said.

"In the course of the demonstration and its ensuing clashes which lasted from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m., a group of people were arrested and a number of the regime's agents were badly beaten up."

German Bank Officials May Face US Sanctions, The Associated Press, July 15 

Officials of Germany's Westdeutche LandesBank could be penalized severely by the U.S. government if the bank grants Iran a loan of $90 million to help reconstruct an offshore oil field in the Persian Gulf.

State Department officials today raised the prospect of sanctions after a report of the loan was published by the Iran, a daily newspaper in Tehran. "We have raised this proposed loan to Iran with German officials at appropriate levels," the department said in a statement.

Quoting Iranian oil officials, the newspaper said Saturday the loan would be granted to the state-owned Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Co. for the reconstruction and renovation of the 60,000-barrels-a-day Soroush oil field in the gulf….

"What we've got to do, if this deal does go through, is assure ourselves of the specifics of the deal, and then to see if it does fit in the framework of the sanctions," department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Monday.

"And if it does, I'm afraid the United States would have to take action. But we have not yet made that decision," Burns said….

Senate Bill Conditions Russia Aid, The Associated Press, July 16 

The Senate voted 95-4 Wednesday to cut off aid to Russia if a bill passed by the Russian Duma restricting religious freedom becomes law….

Aside from the religion amendment, the Senate version of the foreign aid bill already would condition aid to Russia on Moscow's termination of technical support for Iran's nuclear program.

Russia says it is working with Iran on a civilian power-generation project, but the Clinton administration claims the program would give Iran a nuclear military capability….

Mullahs' Leader Calls for Further Social Suppression by Security Forces, IRNA, July 16 

Ali Khamenei [Mullahs' supreme leader], said here on Wednesday that security should govern every aspect of public life.

In a meeting with commanders of law enforcement forces and officials of the social welfare organization, Khamenei called for strong measures against those violating public security….

Khamenei appreciated the police crackdown on those violating social ethics and those threatening public security….

Iranian Dissident Writer To Stand Trial "Soon", Agence France Presse, July 16

Iranian dissident writer Faraj Sarkuhi, arrested in February and accused of spying amid widespread Western condemnation, is to stand trial "very soon," an official said Wednesday….

Sarkuhi was among 134 writers and journalists who signed a petition in October 1994 calling for more freedom of expression in Iran….

A German newspaper published a letter by Sarkuhi saying he was detained in harsh conditions for several weeks by the Iranian intelligence services….

Germany, along with several other Western countries and human rights groups, has voiced concern over the writer's fate and has urged Tehran to shed light on the case. But Iran has warned them not to interfere.

Relations between Tehran and Bonn have seriously deteriorated since a German court ruled April 10 that Iran was involved in political assassinations in Berlin in 1992….

Back to Brief on Iran