Back to Brief on Iran
President Bill Clinton… recently sent a letter to… Khatami that held out the hope for better relations if Iran would be so gracious to help U.S. investigators find the terrorists behind the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.
Did Mr. Clinton sign the amicable letter sincerely, " the Great Satan?" One wonders…
Seeking the murderers responsible for the bombing of the U.S. military installation is unquestionable a noble and worthwhile cause. The Clinton administration has for years come up empty-handed, however, and appealing to a nation that routinely vilifies the United States makes little sense.
For starters… Khatami isn't even running the show in Iran. The president may in fact be more moderated than past leaders but his power is limited…
The clerics in Iran remain ardently anti-American. During the 20th anniversary of Iran's revolution Mr. Khamenei said "Our great revolution marched its arduous road with pride and confidence " despite "hostile acts" by the United States. The clerics may also sanction action against this country. "Mullah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi, who was appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the chief of the judiciary, is one of the most active figures involved in clerical regime's machinery for export of terrorism and fundamentalism," said the National Council of Resistance of Iran in a brief.
Iran said late last month that it plans to develop two laser-guided, heavy anti-armor missiles, a medium-range Shahab missiles the army recently manufactured. Because of Iran's missile capability, it poses a genuine threat.
Optimism is an admirable trait. Willful naiveté,
however, is unsightly-especially when it influences U.S. foreign policy.
Swedish Student Sought Over Sensitive Iran Export, Reuters, October 12
STOCKHOLM - Swedish authorities said on Tuesday they were looking for an Iranian-born Swedish university student suspected of trying to smuggle sensitive electronic equipment to Iran which could be used in nuclear weapons.
Customs officials told Reuters the device from U.S. firm Richardson Electronics (RELL.O), which the suspect tried to export to Iran in September, was a switch generally used in medical research but also found in military equipment.
The student purchased the switch, used in laser eye surgery and known as a Thyratron tube, from Richardson's subsidiary in Sweden, claiming it was for university research, customs said.
The police questioned the student in September. He admitted to forging documents to send the device to Iran, but has since disappeared.
Police have issued a detention order for the man,
who successfully exported such equipment to a university in Iran last year,
police said.
Second Suspect in Serial Murders Kills Himself in Jail - Paper, Agence France Presse, October 12
TEHRAN - A second suspect in a wave of murders of dissidents here last year has committed suicide in prison, the Azad daily reported Tuesday.
The death of Akbar Khosh-Kush, one of 27 people being prosecuted for the murders, has not been confirmed by the authorities, the paper stressed.
"But if this suicide is confirmed, the case of the
serial murders will take on a new dimension," it added.
The chief suspect in the killings, Said Emami, a
member of the state intelligence services, poisoned himself in prison on
June 19 last year, the authorities said at the time.
From Mullahs’ Press, Reuters, October 12
ABRAR - Many of Iran's academics use research leaves abroad to emigrate, prompting teacher shortages at Iranian universities, a senior official at the higher education ministry said.
QODS - Iran has some 2.5 million unemployed and the number is rising due to the country's growing population, a health ministry official said.
KAYHAN - Economy and Finance Minister Hossein Namazi attended a parliament session to answer a deputy's question about the fall in the value of the rial against hard currencies in recent months. Namazi blamed the fall on high inflation, a low growth rate, and a rapid increase in the private sector's money supply.