Back to Brief on Iran
The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement today and strongly condemned the scheduled trip by Italy's Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini to Tehran, and demands that it be canceled immediately.
Shaking hands with the officials of the mullahs' religious, terrorist dictatorship runs counter to the highest interests of the Iranian people.
The statement said that: In its April meeting in Luxembourg, the European Union made any progress or improvement in relations contingent upon the clerical regime's respect for "international law" and its refraining from terrorism. Since then at least 24 Iranian dissidents have been assassinated abroad by the mullahs' death squads.
In 1997, alone, more than 200 persons were executed in public. No less than 138 of them, including seven who were stoned, were executed during Khatami's tenure.
The NCR said that Western countries' trade and political ties with the Iranian regime have effectively helped Iran's ruling theocracy to continue its crimes against the Iranian people and persist in its enmity to peace and tranquillity in the region.
Engulfed in acute political, economic, and social crises, and unable to confront the growing popular resistance, the clerical regime is devoid of any legitimacy among the people of Iran. Any political and economic investment in this regime is doomed to fail.
The growth of popular uprisings and expansion of students and workers'
protests in recent months attest to this truth.
Iranian MP's Son Detained over Links with Dissident Cleric, Agence France Presse, February 26
The son of an outspoken Iranian MP was briefly detained for having links with a dissident cleric, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The English-language Iran News said Ali Movahedi-Savoji...had confirmed newspaper reports that his son had been arrested in Montazeri's office....
Movahedi-Savoji, who has been an MP in all of the five assemblies convened since the 1979 Islamic revolution, is a staunch conservative... He is...hostile to Montazeri, whom he accuses of being anipulated by the liberal opposition.
Montazeri, 75, the former designated successor of the late Iranian leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah homeini, angered the conservatives in November after
he attacked supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei....
Candidacy of Close Ally of Khatami Rejected, Reuter Press Digest, February 26
Government-controlled Tehran Times: Iran's Guardian Council rejects the candidacy of former cabinet minister Behzad Nabavi for parliamentary by-elections in March.
Nabavi is a supporter of President Khatami. Rohanioon-e Mobarez [Militant
Clerics Society] who supports Khatami will not form a political party....
Iranian MPs Submit Bill Against Publication of "Revealing" Photos, Agence France Presse, February 25
A bill to ban the publication of "revealing" pictures of unveiled women in the Iranian press was submitted Wednesday by a group of conservative members of Iran's parliament, the Kayhan newspaper reported....
The 24 MPs say they oppose "abuses" by some magazines, a reference to
photographs of
Western women in make up without headscarves or in short sleeves.
The bill was formulated after the culture and Islamic orientation ministry banned the sale of the weekly Fakour which had published photos of alleged mistresses of US President Bill Clinton.
Earlier, the chief justice, Mohammad Yazdi, warned against the publication
of "any article or photo contrary to Islamic values."...
Iranian Rial Falters Again, Reuter, February 26
The Iranian rial has fallen to one of its weakest levels against the U.S. dollar in recent years on Tehran's currency black market, traders said on Thursday....
The rial rate on Thursday was one of the lowest since the United States
imposed sanctions on Iran in 1995, pushing the currency to over 7,000 to
the dollar before the government was forced to impose strict currency controls....
Report: Iranian Official May Seek Weapons Purchases in Moscow, The Associated Press, February 25
Iran's foreign minister met his Russian counterpart today, opening two days of talks that may include discussions on weapons purchases, a new report said.
Iran's Kamal Kharrazi may inquire about buying high-tech attack helicopters and ship- to-ship missiles, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing unidentified Russian sources.
Iran is also negotiating a deal under which Russia would design, build and launch a communications satellite for Iran, the business daily Russian Telegraf reported today. Satellites of that type can be used for both civilian and military purposes, it reported....
Russia is building a 1000-megawatt, light-water nuclear reactor in Iran,
a project that the United States opposes. The Americans say the plant might
help Tehran to build an atomic bomb....