Resistance carries out 294 operations in first seven months of 1997

NLA opens 9 new command centers, 3 new directorates and 3 new base camps Mojahedin office, Sep. 2, Baghdad - Mr. Massoud Rajavi, the Leader of the Iranian Resistance, announced: In the first seven months of 1997, the Mojahedin have carried out 294 operations inside Iran and the Resistance forces' social and political activitie s last June were carried out in 181 cities and towns across the country.

Referring to the increasing influx of youths who in recent months have joined the National Liberation Army of Iran, Mr. Rajavi added: During this period, the NLA command centers have increased from six to 15, three new directorates and three new milita ry base camps have been opened along the Iran-Iraq frontier.

Mr. Rajavi said: Following the recent "elections," the mullahs' leadership has become a triumvirate, weakening and undermining the regime in its entirety, and speeding up the pace of developments in favor of the Iranian Resistance.

Mr. Rajavi reiterated: If Khatami were to take one step back from suppression and enforce the rule of law even by an inch or allow an iota of freedom, he would see that the Iranian people will quickly sweep aside this regime which is a hundred times mo re despised than the shah's dictatorship.

Pointing to recent comments by the mullahs' President, NLA Commander in Chief said: Backed by the Iranian people, the NLA will of course return to Iran, but to overthrow the clerical regime and establish democracy in that country.

Iranian opposition elects new secretary-general

Associated Press, Sep. 1 - The main Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Warriors, has elected a Kurdish woman as its new secretary-general. A statement issued by the group Monday said Mahvash Sepehri, 41, was elected at a weekend congress. Sepehri, an Iranian Kurd, replaces Shahrazad Sadr.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Ms. Sadr said that she had nominated Ms. Sepehri "because of her outstanding qualities in political and military affairs and her capable management."

She said that the election of a Kurdish woman "shows that we are capable of bringing about national harmony and reconciliation" in Iran.

The Mujahedeen Khalq was founded in 1965 and had fought since the early 1980s to overthrow Iran's Islamic regime.

It is the largest faction in the National Council of Resistance of Iran, headed by Massoud Rajavi, who also commands the 30,000-strong military wing of the movement that is based in Iraq. Rajavi attended the congress, along with his wife Maryam Rajavi, who has been selected "transitional president" should the opposition group succeed against Iran.

The Mujahedeen election Sunday came a day after Iran's new president, Mohammad Khatami, appealed in a speech to Iraq and Western countries to stop supporting opposition groups, which he termed "the terrorists and murderers."

Iranian television said that Khatami also offered an amnesty to opposition members who repented and returned to Iran.

The congress drew thousands of Mujahedeen fighters and supporter from bases in Iraq, while offices in 10 European countries and the United States were connected by telephone links. Sepehri said in her acceptance speech that "the Khomeini regime should anticipate irreparable political and military blows from the Mujahedeen."

Sepehri's husband, Jalal Mir-Mohammad Ali was executed by the Khomeini regime in 1982 and her brother, Mohammad, was killed in Iran in 1988, the group said.

Officials acknowledge plight of Iranian women

Hamshahri, Aug. 25 - Women's political participation has turned into the issue of the day after the fifth Majlis elections and reached its peak in the presidential elections. We had a chat with Mmes. Massoumeh Ebtekar (Khatami's newly appointed deputy), Shahla Kazemipour (Majlis deputy) and Soheila Jelodarzadeh (Majlis deputy) on the meaning, reasons, objectives and motivations for such participation...

Ebtekar: Women are not present in many of the decision-making arenas related to them. They are not asked to participate, neither in education, nor in medical or any other field where women naturally enjoy the right to take part in making decisions rela ted to them...

Kazemipour: Women are the bed rock of the society. They bear all the political and family burdens, but are practically not counted on anywhere... Iranian women have been oppressed, as wives, as mothers, as daughters, and also in the society as working women. Iranian women are deprived and oppressed from every angle you look at it. They do not receive any help or assistance... I believe women's rights are trampled in many cases. In the family by their husbands, in the social and psychological sense, in divorce, at work and in the posts given to women. The society must change its outlook on women. ...

Ebtekar: In the past years after the revolution until now, women have not advanced according to their competence. There have been many barriers and obstacles blocking their way. So, they have often preferred to leave work at young age and not offer the ir services.

American women's visit cancelled

Voice of America, Aug. 28 - A group of professional American women who were supposed to take off for Iran this Friday, postponed their trip. Two members of the group say the Iranian Foreign Ministry informed the group that Mrs. Fatemeh Hashemi, who was to host the American women and heads the Union of Iranian Women's Solidarity, was ill and therefore, the trip has to be rescheduled.

Tehran's Police Chief, a woman hater

AFP, Aug. 26 - IRNA reported the commander of Iranian State Security Forces had chosen General Ayat Goodarzi as the Chief of Tehran's Police. Goodarzi used to be deputy commander of the State Security Forces and head of the section to combat social vic e, which is some type of a moral police. The Israeli radio also reported the appointment of the new Security Forces Commander, noting that: "Previously, he was head of the section to combat social corruption which also enforced the Islamic dress code for women."

Public flogging

August 26, Mianeh, Azerbaijan - Two young men were flogged in public last Wednesday on the charge of corruption. Each man received between 80-85 lashes. Those forced to watch the scene were obviously upset and cursed at the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran hangs man for spying for U.S.

Reuter, Sep. 1, Tehran - Iran has executed an Iranian man for spying for the United States, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said on Monday.

It said Siavash Bayani was hanged in Evin prison outside Tehran last week on charges of spying for the "Great Satan, America."

Bayani had left Iran for the United States about 1984 where he had sought political asylum but returned about three years ago to gather information for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), IRNA said...

Mullahs' forces badly demoralized

NCR Secretariat, Aug. 25 - Mohammad Khatami and his ministers met yesterday with Ali Khamenei, the mullahs' leader.

Referring to the Revolutionary Guards Corps and Bassij forces, Khamenei stressed that Khatami must always give priority to the interests of Hezbollah groups, whom he described as the regime's "sincere and honest troops," even when they run counter to t he interests of the general public. The reason, Khamenei explained, was that they were the only people who would rush to the aid of the regime in critical and sensitive conditions.

Salaam, Aug. 24 - General Mohsen Rezae'i, Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Corps took part in a three-hour interview with the daily...

In a discussion on GC's organizational structure, Rezae'i acknowledged that there were indeed some problems in the organizational structure, but said that the GC Command was deliberating to resolve these problems. The gradual departure of officers fro m the command level and the experienced cadres from the rank-and-file were among the problems discussed in this interview...

Mohsen Rezae'i also spoke on the intervention of some of the Guards Corps commanders in the recent presidential elections. He said that the matter was being investigated.

Export of "Revolution"

Tehran radio, Sep. 1 - Khamenei met with officials in charge of the Cultural Houses of the Islamic Republic outside Iran. He described the cultural onslaught of the West as a very serious matter and added: West's cultural onslaught on regions from whic h it feels danger, particularly the Islamic regime, is very serious, but this issue is not well-understood. Khamenei said the Organization for Islamic Culture and Communication is a very crucial and important organization, and its activities in countering the Western culture are invaluable.

"Zionist" symbol of terrorism

Tehran radio, Sep. 1 - Khatami met today with the families of the martyrs of Lebanon. In this meeting he stressed: ... Your presence shows that the racist, Zionist regime not only violates the rights of the oppressed people of Palestine, but goes furth er and transgresses on other Islamic and Arab nations.

Khatami said the Zionist regime is the biggest symbol of international terrorism and added: Our objection to the occupationist regime of Jerusalem is objection to terrorism in the world.... Khatami emphasized: We do believe that resistance is the irref utable right of free nations in the world in the face of aggressors. The Islamic Republic of Iran defends the rights of these nations in the framework of Islamic and revolutionary values.

Velayati honored by fundamentalists in Tehran

Hamshahri, Aug. 26 - In a meeting yesterday morning, the Islamic movements in Tehran praised Ali Akbar Velayati for his 16-year endeavors in support of the struggles of Muslim nations. Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Rev olutionary Council of Iraq; Abdollah Nouri, head of Pakistan's Islamic Movement; Hekmatyar, head of the Islamic Party of Afghanistan; Ayatollah Mohseni, leader of the Islamic movement of Afghanistan; Seyyed Safi-o ddin, representative of Lebanon's Revolut ionary Movement in Tehran; Hosseini, representative of the Islamic Amal Movement of Iraq, Abu Hamdan, representative of Hemas Islamic Movement in Tehran; and Alemi and Mohaqqeq Afshar, representatives of the two branches of the Islamic Unity Party were pr esent in the meeting. Velayati thanked the representatives of the Islamic groups and said: The Islamic Republic believes that supporting Muslim nations is a legal principle and its own duty.

Terrorists in the Foreign Ministry

NCR Secretariat, Aug. 29 - The mullahs' Foreign Minister announced the names of seven of his deputies. Kharrazi's deputies have long records in domestic repression, export of fundamentalism, and assassination of dissidents abroad.

Mohammad Mohsen Aminzadeh, deputy Foreign Minister in Asian and Oceania affairs, was one of the officials of the Ministry of Intelligence until 1990 . He was subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Guidance and took charge of propaganda against the Mojahedin and countering the Iranian Resistance's activities in foreign countries.

Seyed Mohammad Sadr, deputy Foreign Minister in Arab and African affairs, used to be deputy to the former Minister of Interior, Ali Akbar Mohtashami. He was also the director of the Security Council in that ministry. Born in Lebanon, Sadr has extensive contacts with terrorist groups in that country and acts as the regime's liaison with many of them. Ettela'at daily of March 25, 1990, quoted Sadr as saying, "Khomeini's position against Salman Rushdie added greatly to the honor and glory of Islam worldwi de. We had not shaken the world so much that we did with this fatwa."

Mohammad Ali Hadi Najafabadi, consular deputy and deputy Foreign Minister in parliamentary affairs, was directly involved in the April 1990 assassination of Professor Kazem Rajavi, representative of the National Council of Resistance in Switzerland. He went to Geneva some time before Prof. Rajavi's assassination and left that city for Tehran on an Iran Air flight a few hours after the murder. For several years, he was the regime's ambassador in Arab countries and directly in charge of export of fundame ntalism and building contact with terrorist groups. In his new post as consular deputy, he would be able to provide the necessary facilities for the regime's terrorists in various countries.

Terms set by Khamenei must be met

IRTV, Aug. 28 - Although the Mykonos case is a very small spot in the history of relations between Iran and Europe, its ethical value is indeed not negligible. It does not seem that the ambassador of Germany or any other country would be able to return to Iran, unless the position of the Islamic Republic which is based on the clear guidelines of the Leader, i.e. the German ambassador's return should be the last one to return, is observed.

Iran-EU relations

NCR Rep. office in Germany, Aug. 27 - The National Council of Resistance of Iran condemns the remarks by Mr. Klaus Kinkel, Foreign Minister of Germany, calling for a gradual resumption of ties with the mullahs' regime.

The NCR believes that meeting with the officials of the mullahs' religious, terrorist dictatorship is a blatant violation of the decisions adopted by the European Union in the foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg on April 29, 1997. Mr. Kinkel is quoted as saying that the new Iranian government seems to be a "democratic" one. 14 of Khatami's cabinet ministers come from the Revolutionary Guards Corps and were directly involved in repression, executions and warmongering. At least 5 of them were actively involved in export of terrorism.

All members of Khatami's cabinet as well as those he appointed as vice presidents were officials or members of the previous governments and not one is a newcomer. The only woman in Khatami's government, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Deputy for Environmental Prot ection, was one of the three main students engaged in the 1979 occupation of the American Embassy in Tehran and the hostage taking of U.S. diplomats. It is regrettable that the Foreign Minister of Germany describes a bunch of Revolutionary Guards and terr orists as "democratic."

Political strategy set by Khamenei

IRNA, Aug. 24 - In its Sunday editorial, the Tehran based Jomhouri Islami pointed out that the West was trying to pretend that with the new administration, Iran would revise its foreign policy positions. The daily added: "The new administration, like the previous ones, safeguards the interests of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation and will base its foreign policy on this same principle."

Jomhouri Islami added: "A more important point the West should take note of is that the political strategy of the regime was drawn by the leader of the revolution, and that the change of governments did not at all affect it."

Mideast 'Moderates'? Here We Go Again

The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 28 - [Excerpts from a column by Karen Elliott House, president, international of Dow Jones. She won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.]

There's a naive new Middle East plot line emanating from the U.S. foreign policy establishment and now beginning to be amplified in the media:

Iranian citizens, rejecting the radical fundamentalism of their mullahs, elected a "moderate" new president... This affords America a unique opportunity to nurture new Iranian moderation...

... Ironically, this applied more than a decade ago, when Oliver North took his now notorious chocolate cake to Tehran to meet Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mr. Khatami's predecessor, only to have security guards eat the cakeŠ

In short, we are going to be hearing a lot more about new Iranian moderates in coming months, and much of it will be wishful thinking... The appearance of an occasional moderate somewhere in the ruling hierarchy of a radical regime doesn't portend a ne w era of moderation.

While some Americans are impressed that elections in Iran brought to power Mr. Khatami, who was not favored by the mullahs, it is important to remember that the Islamic Republic is still run by the imam, or chief religious leader, and his ruthless inte lligence service... The U.S. remains the "great Satan" in the official theology of Iran's ayatollahs, and in their state support for terrorist bombings against America and her allies, especially Israel.

Indeed, Mr. Rafsanjani was also once hailed as a moderate. But despite offers by the Bush administration to "talk" and more recent direct dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Mr. Rafsanjani failed during his eight-year presidency to deliver any visi ble record of moderation on the central concerns of America and its Gulf allies. This includes Iran's support for terrorism and its active efforts (with Russian and Chinese help) to acquire nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them long distances...

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