In a message to the people of Iran, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, strongly condemned the attacks yesterday by hooligans of the Intelligence Ministry on Mr. Montazeri's teaching quarters and house as well as the arrest of hundreds of dissident theology students.

Addressing clerics and theology students not involved in the atrocities of the ruling regime, Mr. Rajavi said: The ruling theocracy is the number one enemy of Islam and Iran. Thus, everyone must resist against the regime and its violations of the rights of the Iranian people and against the suppression of clerics and theology students who do not want to surrender to the blood-thirsty rulers of Iran.

The NCR President emphasized that as far as the regime's leaders are concerned, the unforgivable "sin" of Mr. Montazeri, Khomeini's heir apparent for eight years, was that he had protested the massacre of 15,000 Mojahedin political prisoners in summer and autumn of 1988 and wrote in one of his letters to Khomeini that "as you presumably insist on your decree" to continue mass executions, "at least... order that women not be executed, especially pregnant women. Ultimately, the execution of several thousand people in several days will not have positive repercussions and will not be without mistakes."

Political Infighting in Iran Spreads to Holy City, Agence France Presse, November 20 

A power struggle in Iran over the direction of the Islamic republic has spread to the very heart of the theocracy and a stronghold of the ruling Shiite Moslem clergy with violent attacks against the property of dissident clerics….

The spread of the new challenges to Qom is of the most sensitive nature for the regime as the city is a main stronghold of the ruling Shiite Moslem clergy and a place where student clerics are susceptible to new political ideas.

A scene of permanent tension from political infighting, the city is at the same time characterized by secrecy and the authorities take pains not to allow such conflicts to spill out into the public.

But ironically the recent conservative campaign, which turned violent on Wednesday with several policemen injured, opened old wounds and pushed the 75-year-old dissident cleric Montazeri back into the spotlight….

Ali Razini, the head of Tehran's justice department, said Thursday that Montazeri is to be investigated for challenging Khamenei and "violating" the decree by Khomeini ordering him not to interfere in politics.

All revolutionary organizations and armed forces, such as the Revolutionary Guards and the volunteer militia, have issued statements condemning Montazeri and expressing allegiance to the supreme leader….

Clinton Tries To Block Iran from Oil-Rich Central Asian Nations, The Washington Post, November 19 

President Clinton pressed forward yesterday with his diplomatic drive to cultivate closer ties with oil-rich former Soviet republics in Central Asia while trying to prevent Iran from profiting from the development of the region's vast energy resources….

"We think that Iran's behavior on the world stage is such that it doesn't deserve to be rewarded with economic benefits…because they'll spend it on terrorism or whatever else they spend their money on," said Eric Rubin, a spokesman for the National Security Council….

[In a related article on Thursday, The Washington Post said that: "The administration is considering what, if any, action to take against the French company Total, which announced last month that it would invest several billion dollars to develop southern Iranian gas fields."]

Nasrallah: Anti-Zionist Struggle Continues, State-Run Tehran Times, November 20

The Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah said in Qom Saturday evening that the resistance movement of the Lebanese combatants against the Zionist regime will continue unabated.

According to IRNA, he made the remark while addressing a group of Lebanese and other foreign theologians at Qom Seminary. Inspired by the aspirations of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini, and the wise leadership of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Lebanese Hezbollah will continue its struggle till annihilation of the Zionist regime, Nasrallah reiterated….

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