In a statement issued on Wednesday, the NCR said that the program proposed by Khatami's cabinet, and his own and his ministers' remarks yesterday and today in the Majlis, confirmed that the mullahs' new president is neither inclined nor capable of bringing any serious change or reform in Iran's ruling theocracy.

Khatami and his ministers stressed on continuing suppressive and terrorist policies and reaffirmed their loyalty to Khomeini and the policies of Khamenei, the NCR said.

"All of Khatami's cabinet ministers are from among the ministers and officials of the previous governments and not even a single minister was picked from outside the elite that has been ruling Iran for the last 18 years. No less than 14 of the ministers were officials of the Guards Corps, directly involved in repression and warmongering."

Iran's new Economy and Finance Minister Hossein Namazi…said the government would stick to its policy of fixing official exchange rates and would not float the rial.

Namazi held the post of economy and finance minister from 1982 to 1986 under then prime minister Mirhossein Moussavi, a radical advocate of state controls.

Iran's new Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Wednesday received parliamentary approval to oversee oil policy, which he had indicated would not change immediately from that of his predecessor Gholamreza Aghazadeh.

In his first interview since being nominated by Khatami, Zanganeh last week stressed policies already put in place by Aghazadeh.

Iran Leader Loses Fight for EU Ties, London Times, August 19

President Khatami of Iran failed in his bid for a more moderate approach to the European Union (writes Michael Evans). Western intelligence sources say other politicians opposed his attempts to arrange the return of all EU envoys to Tehran. They were ordered home after Iran was implicated in the death of Kurds in Berlin.

Mullahs Hang 30 Persons in Public in Recent Weeks, Iran Zamin News Agency, August 19 

The NCR issued a statement on August 19, and said that at least 30 persons were hanged in the past weeks in different Iranian cities. They were charged with such offenses as drug trafficking and banditry.

The NCR said: "The bloody crackdown of the uprising in Fars Province on August 13 and 14, as well as the August 12 stoning of a 20-year-old woman in Boukan (western Iran) and the raid on the office of a magazine in Tehran on August 17 are but a few indications that ceaseless executions, inhuman and medieval punishments and savage repression will continue in Iran and that pinning any hope on "change," "reform" and the "rule of law" is futile."

Tehran's Weapons of Mass Destruction, The Associated Press, August 19  

Excerpts from a report by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency presented to the Congress last week:

• Iran remains intent on acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

• Iran probably has produced agents for biological weapons "and apparently has weaponized a small quantity of those agents." 

Israel's Labor Leader Warns of Iran's Nuclear Program, Radio Israel-Persian Program, August 19 

In his talks with the French Prime Minister in Paris, the leader of Israel's Labor Party, Mr. Ehud Barak, discussed the dangers of Iran's Islamic Government. During the yesterday's meeting with Lionel Juspin, Ehud Barak, who is visiting Paris, asked the French Premier to put pressure on Russia in order to put an end to Russia's assistance to Iran's Islamic Government's nuclear program….

White House Issues Clarification on Iran Trade Sanctions, Dow Jones News, August 20 

The White House late Tuesday issued a clarification of U.S. sanctions on Iran….

"The new order makes it explicit that U.S. persons, wherever they are located, are prohibited from engaging in directly or indirectly trade or investment activities with Iran, wherever those activities occur," State Department spokesman Christopher Bush said.

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