Thousands of combatants of the National Liberation Army of Iran celebrated the Iranian New Year, Nowrouz, in a ceremony this morning attended by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, and Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Mr. Rajavi told the meeting: "Signs of the downfall of the mullahs' regime became evident in the year that has passed. The Resistance's military operations have weakened the regime in its entirety, especially the dominant (Khamenei) faction. The mullahs' factional infighting grew more intense as a result."

Mr. Rajavi said: "The Resistance's operations solely target armed individuals and centers involved in such crimes as mass executions and torture. Whenever the mullahs' regime has tried to stage manage a show to claim that innocent civilians and citizens have been targeted by the Resistance, we have called for international missions to go to Iran and publish the results of their on-site investigation.

"Having said that, I pledge, on behalf of the Iranian Resistance, that if anyone from our side oversteps the red line concerning absolute prohibition of attacks on civilians and innocent individuals, either deliberately or unintentionally, he or she would be ready to stand trial in any international court and accept any ruling by the court, including the payment of compensation."

For her part, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi offered her New Year greetings and said: "The year that has elapsed was a year of great setbacks for the ruling mullahs. Their factional strife has become violent, while the confrontation between the "liberation front" and clerical dictatorship has entered a new stage with the July uprising in Tehran and other cities and the Resistance's rising operations and activities inside the country."
 

"Shadow Government", Agence France Presse, March 21

TEHRAN - Most Iranians believe there is a murderous "shadow government" that holds the true power in the nation, said a newspaper Tuesday whose chief is fighting for his life after an assassination attempt.

"Right now, public opinion believes there is a shadow government of assassins active in the halls of power in the Islamic republic," the paper, Sobh-e-Emruz daily, said.

Sobh-e Emrouz added that the ultimate message of the regime's hardliners was: "Shut up or we'll shut you up."
 

Student Gunman Shot Hajjarian: IRNA, Agence France Presse, March 21

TEHRAN - The gunman who shot Saeed Hajarian is a student at a Tehran university led by a top conservative, the official IRNA news agency said Tuesday.

Citing the head of the investigation, it named Saeed Asghar as the gunman responsible for the March 12 shooting of Hajarian, a close ally of Mohammad Khatami.

It said Asghar is a chemistry student at the Free Islamic University (FMU), a private school founded in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution by order of the founder of the Islamic republic, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

FMU is currently headed by Abdollah Jasbi, an influential figure among Iranian conservatives, and its student body tends to come from well-heeled families.

IRNA said the student was the owner of the high-powered motorbike used in the getaway after the shooting of Hajarian.

Reports have said the motorbike was of a kind restricted here to government agencies.
 

Iran Restricts Media After Reformer's Shooting, Reuters, March 21

TEHRAN - Iran moved on Tuesday to restrict media reports on the attempted assassination of a pro-Khatami figure, amid suspicions hardliners were behind the attack.

The National Security Council issued a statement on Tuesday demanding that "any unreliable news, rumors and malicious analysis of the foreign media in connection with the arrests" should be avoided.

"News...on the arrests of elements behind this terrorist act will be made available to the media by official sources," the official IRNA news agency said.

The move to rein in the press came two days after supreme leader Ali Khamenei voiced concern about rumors linking the attack to the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij volunteer militia or their hardline allies.

He told Khatami to speed up the inquiry into the case in order to put the suspicions to rest. The president then asked the National Security Council to watch the media.

Rumors that hardliners were behind the attack on Hajjarian were fed by the fact the gunmen were riding a high-powered motorcycle of a type used in political killings and restricted by law to security personnel.

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