BRIEF ON IRAN No. 171 Thursday, May 18, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iranian Opposition Says Two Women Activists Killed in Baghdad, Associated Press, May 17 Iran's main opposition group said two of its female members were killed Wednesday in Baghdad when gunmen who it said were working for Iran's government raked their car with machine-gun fire. A third woman was wounded in the morning attack in Baghdad's al-Shaab district, the Mujahedeen Khalq said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press... Mujahedeen leader Massoud Rajavi, in a statement also faxed to the AP, said Iranian agents have carried out 33 operations against the Mujahedeen in Iraq, adding that 'the time has come for the closure of the mullahs' (Iranian) embassy in and center of terrorist operations in Baghdad.' He urged the U.N. Security Council to condemn Iran and punish it for its attacks by imposing on it a tight embargo. Gunmen Kill Two Iranian Women Exiles in Baghdad, Reuters, May 17 Gunmen fired at a vehicle of an Iranian exile group in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing two senior women members and wounding a third, the Mujahideen Khalq organization said. The Mujahideen, which opposes the Tehran government, blamed what it called 'terrorist diplomats' in the Iranian embassy in Iraq. It urged the Iraqi government to shut down the embassy and bring the attackers to justice... 'Mrs. Effat Haddad, a logistics commander...and Mrs. Fereshteh Esfandiari, one of the senior officials of Mujahideen public relations department, were martyred,' the exile group said. Another statement quoted the groups leader, Massoud Rajavi, as saying: 'The criminal mullahs and their mercenaries will undoubtedly pay the price for these sacred bloods shed for the liberty of Iran.'... Exile Group Says Iran Massing Troops, Reuters, May 14 An Iranian opposition group said on Sunday Tehran was massing troops with long-range missiles and helicopter gunships along the border with Iraq to attack bases of the exile organization. 'The mullahs' regime is making extensive preparations to mount large-scale attacks on the bases of the National Liberation Army (NLA) and the Iranian resistance,' said the statement by the group, the Mujahideen Khalq... The statement said Iran was training 20 Pakistanis and 40 men from Bosnia for what it described as 'extra- territorial activities.'... Iran has also launched missile and air attacks on the group's military training camps in Iraq. Iran Buying 100 Tanks From Poland, The New York Times, May 17 Despite a vigorous behind-the scenes campaign by Washington, Poland is going ahead with a deal to sell Iran more than a hundred T-72 tanks, Polish officials and Western diplomats acknowledged today. Thirty four of the Soviet-designed T-72's, the main battle tank of Russia and the other former Soviet republics and allies, have already been delivered... In a statement on the deal today, the American Embassy here voiced only indirect criticism... Iran Could Execute Convicted Profiteers, Reuters, May 14 Iran said on Sunday it was considering a new law under which convicted 'profiteers' could be executed. The powerful National Expediency Council is preparing a new law to curb trade on a flourishing black market and Iran's Prosecutor General, Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadaie, said it 'could prescribe capital punishment for offenders,' the official IRNA news agency reported. 'Opportunists and profiteers move in line with world arrogance (the U.S.)...Since their objective is to cause harm to the (Iranian) government, they would be classified as saboteurs and corrupt,' he added. The Council, headed by President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, last Wednesday discussed measures to stop the collapse in recent weeks of the rial currency as Iranians rushed to buy dollars... 'The judiciary will seriously confront economic offenders, in the manner it dealt with anti-revolutionary grouplets,' Moghtadaie warned in reference to speedy trials after the 1979 Islamic revolution when dozens of opponents were executed...