The NCR issued a statement today on the backgrounds of the nominees for Mohammad Khatami's cabinet, at least 11 of whom are former officials in the Revolutionary Guards or Construction Crusade. Five other nominees have been extensively involved in the export of fundamentalism and terrorism.

NCR President Massoud Rajavi commented: "All cabinet nominees were officials and ministers in previous governments. Not even one is an outsider to the leadership elite, in power for the past 18 years."

According to the statement, Mullah Abdollah Nouri, the nominee for Interior Minister, was Khomeini's representative in the Guards during the Iran-Iraq war.

Hossein Mozaffar, nominated for the Education Ministry, dispatched tens of thousands of elementary and high school students to the war fronts.

Gholamreza Shafe'i, the nominee for the Ministry of Industries, was the head of Tehran's fourth district Komiteh, responsible for the arrest and murder of thousands of dissidents in the 1980s. The Islamic Revolutionary Komitehs were one of the main organs of suppression in the early years of the mullahs' rule but later dissolved in the Guards Corps.

Mohammad Shari'atmadar, the nominee for the Ministry of Commerce, was one of the main organizers of the Intelligence Directorate of the Prime Minister's office and the Islamic Revolutionary Komitehs. He is among the founders of the Intelligence Ministry and for many years was the deputy Minister of Intelligence.

Ali Abdol-ali Zadeh, the nominee for the Minister of Housing, was among the founders of the Komitehs in East Azerbaijan Province and as the deputy for internal security in the province for many years, he was involved in the suppression of the residents.

The nominee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kamal Kharrazi, oversaw the export of fundamentalism to the United States during his tenure as the regime's ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Before then, he coordinated the mullahs' war propaganda in and out of Iran through the slogan of Liberating Qods (Jerusalem) via Karbala (in Iraq).

The candidate for Islamic Guidance, Ata'ollah Mohajerani, was appointed several years ago by Khamenei as the head of "Committee to Support the Palestinian Revolution." He was a ringleader in a meeting held in late 1993 to devise plans to assassinate Yasser Arafat.

As Governor of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, Mahmoud Hojjatti, the nominee for the Ministry of Roads and Transportation, helped organize a series of terrorist assaults against Iranian dissidents in Pakistan. He worked with the Qods Force, which is responsible for the Guards Corps' extra-territorial operations.

"Disappointingly Cautious" Cabinet, The Times of London Editorial, August 13  

The composition of the Cabinet nominated... by Mohammad Khatami, the new Iranian president, is disappointingly cautious. Those disappointed will include not only policymakers in the West, whose eagerness to identify Iranian `moderates' has led them into embarrassing miscalculations in the past, but the millions of Iranians who cheered last May's sweeping election victory of the mild-mannered cleric as a merited popular rebuke to the diehard cabals that run Iran's theocracy. ....

``... There is no evidence that Iran has stopped bankrolling Islamist terror. ... Iran may be close to developing nuclear weapons. ... In America, critics who contend that containment of Iran has failed can drawn no cheer from the dismal collapse of Europe's efforts at `constructive dialogue.'.."

U.S. Sees No Sign Of Fundamental Change, Voice Of America, August 13  

The United States says, so far, it has seen no change in Iranian policy that would warrant a rapprochement with Tehran…

State Department spokesman James Rubin says… "Unfortunately, so far, we haven't seen any indications that when it comes to the three areas that we're concerned about [namely Iran's support of terrorism, opposition to the Mid East peace process and program to develop weapons of mass destruction] that there has been fundamental change… "

After Clashes with Mojahedin, Khamenei Sends Special Delegation To Khuzistan, Iran Zamin New Agency, August 13

The press office of the People's Mojahedin issued a statement in Paris today on the dispatch of a special delegation to the oil-rich Khuzistan Province by Supreme Spiritual Leader Khamenei.

The visit came in the wake of extensive clashes between the Mojahedin and agents of the Guards Corps and Intelligence Minsitry in the provinces of Khuzistan (southwest), Ilam (west) and Kerman (south).

Khamenei was reportedly concerned over the extensive popular support for the Mojahedin during the clashes, and the inability of the regime's military and state security forces to confront the Resistance. He dispatched the special delegation to inspect the situation of the regime's security forces in various cities in Khuzistan for eight days, from August 11 to 18.

Back to Brief on Iran