BRIEF ON IRAN

No. 718

Tuesday, August 12, 1997

Representative Office of

The National Council of Resistance of Iran

Washington, DC


Mojahedin, Regime Forces in Extensive Clashes in Various Parts of Iran, Iran Zamin News Agency, August 10 

According to the report by the Mojahedin's Command Headquarters inside Iran, large numbers of mullahs' agents were killed or wounded in extensive clashes in recent weeks with the Mojahedin.

Yesterday, the General Director of Intelligence in Khuzistan province in a bid to boost the morale of its forces and to thwart the escalating tide of youths joining the National Liberation Army announced "six networks which transferred" the Mojahedin supporters to the border strip were discovered, "13 members of this network in Abadan, Khorramshahr and Dasht-e Azadegan" and several Mojahedin were arrested 'while trying to cross the border.

A statement by the Press Office of Mojahedin in Paris said: "Two Mojahedin members, Hamid Golestan and Hassan Rassti, were also slain in these confrontations which occurred in the provinces of Khuzistan (southwest), Ilam (west) and Kerman (south).

The People's Mojahedin of Iran urged international human rights organizations to spare no effort in saving the lives of those arrested who are under the most brutal torture. The statement said: "The Intelligence Ministry is planning to exert pressure on these prisoners to force them into taking part in television interviews."

 

Iran's Khatami Treads Warily in Choosing Ministers, Reuter, August 11

TEHRAN - Iran's new President Mohammad Khatami is moving carefully to gain approval for his cabinet choices from conservatives who dominate parliament, political analysts and diplomats based in Tehran said on Monday….

"Khatami has to tread very carefully...he has to learn to walk before he can run. Nothing has been won yet even with the election victory," one Western diplomat said.

The Majlis, the 270-member parliament which holds its next session on Tuesday, is dominated by conservatives headed by speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri….

The daily Hamshahri said Khatami had chosen conservative cleric and parliament deputy Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi as intelligence minister. If confirmed, the move would be an important concession by Khatami to his opponents….

Newspapers said opposition by conservatives and entrenched revolutionaries had already forced Khatami to drop Tehran's reformist mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi… from even being proposed for full cabinet rank….

Analysts said compromise by Khatami on key cabinet positions could shape and even hamper any future attempts to push through change and breathe fresh life into the 18-year-old Islamic revolutionary state.

"The main offices of the cabinet may be out of his hands. Then there will be very little he can do as a president but bring limited changes in social affairs," said one analyst….

 

Iran Diplomats Held and Released in Dushanbe, Reuter, August 11

TEHRAN - Two Iranian diplomats were held at gunpoint outside Iran's embassy in Dushanbe on Saturday but were released later, the Iranian official news agency IRNA reported on Monday.

"The two diplomats were held for about an hour before they were released in a southern district of Dushanbe," IRNA quoted Iran's ambassador to Tajikistan, Rasoul Moussavi, as saying….

 

Regime's Active Involvement in Extra-territorial Terrorism, Radio Israel, August 10

The Government of Islamic Republic of Iran in an attempt to release a dispatched terrorist to Thailand sent a large legal envoy to that country.

The terrorist was planning to blow up Israeli embassy in Bangkok when he killed a Thai truck-driver.

This terrorist, whose name is Houssein Dastgiri, was initially identified as Houssein Shahriyari. While on his way to the embassy with a truck carrying several hundred pounds of explosives, he had an accident, resulting in the death of the truck driver…

Although Iranian government has denied any relations with the indicted terrorist, so far it has resorted to various threats and measures to obtain the release of this terrorist.

Yesterday, Tehran's newspapers in their headlines have described this terrorist as innocent. They have reported that this was the third times that Iran has sent such a team to Thailand.

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