TEHRAN - Iran's new president Mohammad Khatami is haggling behind closed doors with conservatives on a compromise cabinet which could pass parliamentary approval with little opposition, diplomats said on Thursday.

"Compromise is the order of the day," a Western diplomat said. "There is a lot of maneuvering behind the scenes."…

Earlier in the week conservative deputies hinted at their displeasure with Khatami's failure to consult them before drawing up his list….

Khatami himself was forced to resign in 1992 as culture minister for failing to halt what was seen as a Western cultural invasion of the Islamic republic….

Senator D'Amato: Bow Valley Should Be Punished for Iran, Dow Jones News, August 7 

WASHINGTON - Senate Banking Committee Chairman Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., author of legislation designed to deter foreign investment in Iran's energy sector, has called on the U.S. to punish a Canadian company that last week signed an oil development deal with Tehran.

Calgary-based Bow Valley Energy Ltd. confirmed this week that it has signed a contract valued at between $150 million and $212 million with the National Iranian Oil Co. to develop the offshore Balal oilfield….

D'Amato called on the U.S. State Department to punish the Canadian firm under ILSA's [Iran-Libya Sanctions Act] provisions.

'By reportedly signing an oil deal with Iran, Bow Valley has chosen to support international terrorism. This is a matter of U.S. national security and it is unfortunate that they fail to see this point,' he said in a statement issued late Wednesday evening….

Earlier this week, the State Department said it was looking into reports of the deal and 'would take appropriate action.

'ILSA is the law and we will apply it fully,' a State Department spokeswoman said….

Seven Publicly Hanged in One Week 

AFP, July 29 - Qods newspaper reported that three Iranians, Reza and Ali Akbar Sa'adati and Mohabat Ali Mowlawi, had been hanged in front of crowds of people and local officials in Birjand, eastern Iran.

Hamshahri, July 30 - Upon the verdict of the Islamic Revolutionary Court and confirmation of the Supreme Court of Justice, Fat'hollah Ramezani and Hemmat Alipour were sentenced to 80 strikes of the whip and hanged yesterday morning in the East Martyrs Street in Khorramabad, western Iran.

Iran Zamin News Agency, July 30 - Regime's agents hanged a man and a woman in public in Vilashahr, Isfahan.

Women in Foreign Ministry, State-controlled Salam, July 22

[The following is a reader's commentary published in the daily] 

I am speaking on behalf of a group of women in the Foreign Ministry. Working women in the Foreign Ministry do not receive equal pay for equal work with men. Despite the fact that women have demonstrated their talent in every field, and shown that they are even more talented in some fields, unfortunately they do not enjoy equal rights.

Guards' Cooperation with Chain Killer Protested, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 30

TEHRAN - A group of Tehran's residents protested this morning the cooperation between the Revolutionary Guards and agents of the State Security Force with the criminal who murdered 11 women in Tehran. The crowd assembled in front of the Palace of Justice.

Paving the Way to War, State-controlled Daily Hamshahri, July 31

Rafsanjani agreed with the allocation of another five billion rials to complete the expressway to Karbala [a Muslim Shiite's holy city in western Iraq]. Next to the Kermanshah-Khosravi road..., the Karbala expressway is the entrance point to the Islamic Republic and bares special importance. By allocating this credit, Rafsanjani expressed hope that this credit would help finish this important national project as soon as possible.

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