The NCR reported that on November 11 and 12, different parts of the city of Isfahan were the scene of demonstrations by the city's enraged residents against the regime and its leaders.

According to the NCR, reports from Iran indicate that on Tuesday, November 11, residents staged demonstrations in several parts of the city, including Zeinabieh and Sepahan districts and Robat Street, in protest to shortage of milk. They overturned several trucks carrying empty milk bottles and set them on fire. The crowd then began to march toward the Governor's Office. Before reaching it, however, the Guards Corps and the security forces attacked the protesters.

In the ensuing clashes which lasted until 5:00 PM, the security forces arrested scores of people and transferred them to unknown locations. There were many women among them. A number of those injured are currently hospitalized in Isfahan's Jorjani and Feizi hospitals.

The same reports say that more than 1,000 residents in the poverty-stricken area of Borkhar in Shahinshahr, Isfahan, staged a demonstration at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, November 12, in front of the Governor's office to protest the lack of the most basic necessities of life. The security forces and the Guards attacked the demonstration which lasted until 4:00 PM, and arrested many protesters.

Tehran Mayor To Stand Trial on Fraud Charges: Report, Agence France Presse, November 13 

Tehran–Tehran's embattled mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi is to stand trial in the next few days on corruption charges and has been banned from leaving the capital, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Karbaschi has been summoned to court three times in the past week to provide secret testimony into a corruption scandal surrounding the huge municipality, which has left several district chiefs and other senior officials arrested.

The conservative Qods newspaper, citing a judicial source, said Karbaschi had been unable to clear himself of charges in "massive violations" committed under his management.

"He will be put on trial next week in public," it said, adding that the charges included "bribery, misuse of public funds, illegal taxes and illegal confiscation of properties."

The paper, quoting a judicial official, also said the mayor, who has been banned from leaving the country, was also barred from leaving the city limits "in a bid to be accessible."

Last week he was made to post a five-billion-rial (1.6 million dollars) bail pending further proceedings….

Karbaschi has been a prime target of conservative attacks for his pro-Western management style.

He has also come under fire for challenging the conservative clergy by siding with rival groups in May's presidential election and legislative polls nearly two years ago.

He was instrumental in President Mohammad Khatami's crushing victory against a conservative opponent in May's presidential election.

America's Hollow Embargo on Iran, The New York Times, Excerpts from the Editorial Observer by Philip Taubman, November 13  

TEHERAN—Anyone who thinks the United States is conducting an effective embargo of Iran ought to visit the Iranian capital. It is flooded with American computers, drilling equipment and parts for everything from trucks to tanks. Ask Iranians about the embargo and they smile. "We get whatever we want," one businessman told me….

The Iran embargo, as far as I could see during five days in Iran, exists mostly in the minds of Congress and the Clinton Administration….

Some American businesses seem unaware of the ultimate destination of their products, but they must be the exception. In most cases it should be clear by now that many goods going to Dubai are headed for Iran. In the case of spare parts for airplanes, trucks, drilling equipment and telecommunications networks, the part numbers should be a giveaway because they can be linked to equipment sold to Iran either before the latest embargo or before the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Though the Customs Service is hampered by the innocuous destinations listed on shipping manifests, Iranian traders contended that bribes had been paid to get particularly sensitive items by, including computer equipment and spare parts that can be used to maintain military equipment and missiles. They declined to be more specific….

Embargoes have no chance of success if they are not enforced. President Clinton looked decisive in banning all trade with Iran in May 1995, and Congress added a boycott last year that calls for sanctions against foreign companies that engage in sizable transactions with Iran and Libya. If Washington intends to exercise that additional power, it should first get serious about the embargo on American companies.

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