The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement indicating that in a six-hour radio-television address to the people of Iran on the 19th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the NCR, said: Just like the last days of the shah, the days of the mullahs, particularly after Khatami's presidency and the troika leadership, are numbered. Iran's valiant children within the ranks of the National Liberation Army are opening the way for the final showdown.

The NCR President reviewed the 19-year record of the clerical regime. The mullahs' only gifts to the people of Iran are the execution of 120,000 political prisoners, 272 terrorist operations abroad, $45 billion in foreign debt, 16 million unemployed, 30 million without housing, destruction of the country's agriculture and industry, five million addicts and a population 80% of whom are living below the poverty line, he said.

Out of the 272 terrorist operations by the regime, 50 were launched in 1997 and more than two-thirds of them were carried out under Khatami, Mr. Rajavi said.

He added: The other side of the coin of the atrocities of the clerical regime is a resistance movement which has persevered in Iran and struggled for the past two decades for democracy, peace and justice despite all the political conspiracies and military and terrorist schemes by relying on the widespread support of the Iranian people.

On the international level, more than 2,000 parliamentarians including majorities in the parliaments of Italy, Britain, and the United States attested to the fact that supporting the Iranian Resistance and its President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi —as the symbol of unity and supported by the majority of the people of Iran— will contribute to the establishment of democracy in Iran and peace and stability in the region.

The NCR president added: Six months after Khatami took office, there are no signs of freedom, civil society and the rule of law which he had promised. Mr. Rajavi indicated that if Khatami is true to his words, he should allow a whiff of an open political environment. If that were to happen, the Iranian people would sweep aside the mullahs' dictatorship much quicker than they did the shah's regime. Repression and export of terrorism are indispensable to the regime's survival. The regime's internal factions share common interests in pursuing these policies.
 

Only Several Thousand Participated in Today's Demonstrations in Tehran, Iran Zamin News Agency, February 11

Tehran today was the scene of the smallest demonstration in the past 18 years marking the anniversary of the mullahs' rise to power, according to a statement by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The government-organized demonstration was met with the public's boycott en masse. Despite massive propaganda and mobilization of all resources, only several thousand out of Tehran's 12 million inhabitants participated in the event which featured Khatami, the mullahs' President, as the main speaker at Azadi Square.

The majority of participants were Guards Corps members or school students whose attendance was mandatory. In addition, Afghan workers made up a large portion of the crowd.

The public's refusal to participate in this show reaffirms that this regime has no social base or legitimacy, that any investment in this regime is doomed to fail, and that all forms of assistance to it run counter to the Iranian people's aspirations….

Khatami again used the occasion to emphasize the need to obey Khamenei, the mullahs' supreme leader, and rally around him as "the unwavering axis" of the regime.

Last week, on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, the regime used one of its front organizations, "Global Assembly of the Ahl Al-Bait," to gather its terrorist agents from various countries in Tehran. They met with Khamenei, Khatami and Rafsanjani.

In its final statement, the assembly stressed that export of revolution can be accomplished by "extending" Khamenei's leadership "beyond national and regional boundaries" and "making Shiites more familiar with the powers of the supreme leader of all Muslims."

 
Mullahs Ready To Build More Nuclear Plant, Agence France Presse, February 10

The Iranian government gave a green light Tuesday to concluding a "contract for completing the first unit" of its planned nuclear plant in Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, Iran's official IRNA news agency said….

The contract could pertain to acquiring a second reactor for the plant in Bushehr, according to observers here….

[The head of the mullahs' atomic energy commission] Aghazadeh also said Tuesday that Tehran "wants to sign two separate contracts," one with Russia for starting work on two 440 megawatt units, the other with China for two 300 megawatt units….

US officials have strongly objected to Iran's construction of the nuclear plant, saying they fear Iranian officials want to acquire the technology needed to develop nuclear weapons.
 

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