Back to Brief on Iran
WASHINGTON - One-third of the 304 acts of international terrorism last year were against U.S. targets, the State Department said in a report released Thursday. The worldwide figure for 1997 was one of the lowest since 1971, with Iran listed as the world's "most active" sponsor of terrorism.
A State Department official who briefed reporters said there was no significant difference in Iranian support for terrorism after President Mohammed Khatami took office last August.
The State Department report said Tehran conducted at least 13 assassinations in 1997, the majority in northern Iraq. In 1996, Iran was said to have been responsible for eight terrorism deaths.
Neither the report nor the State Department briefer commented on whether Iranian involvement in terrorism increased or decreased after Khatami took office in August. But other officials said a majority of the year's attacks occurred after his inauguration.
"Tehran continued to be involved in
the planning and execution of terrorist acts by its own agents and by surrogates
such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and continued to fund and train known terrorists
groups throughout 1997," the report said.
Iran Still Top "Terrorism" Sponsor, U.S. Says, Reuter, April 30
WASHINGTON - Iran remained the world's leading "state sponsor of terrorism" last year, carrying out at least 13 assassinations, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
"There is no evidence that Iranian policy has changed, and Iran continues both to provide significant support to terrorist organizations and to assassinate dissidents abroad," the department said in an annual report on worldwide terrorism.
The report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism", which is required by Congress, said the appointment of President Mohammad Khatami in Iran had not affected Tehran's support for "terrorism", which Iran denies.
It said Tehran conducted at least 13 assassinations in 1997, most of them in northern Iraq, with targets including members of opposition groups such as the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran and the Mujahedin-e-Khalq. The Mujahedin are themselves designated as "terrorists" by the State Department.
A senior State Department official,
briefing reporters on condition he was not identified, said Iran's sponsorship
of terrorism "has continued into 1998".
Hamas Head Vows to Follow Path of Khomeini, Reuter, April 30
TEHRAN - The founder of the militant Palestinian Moslem Hamas group visited the tomb of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Thursday and vowed to follow his footsteps.
Sheikh Yassin "vowed to continue the anti-Zionist path of Imam Khomeini," the television added.
Hamas opposes Israeli-Palestinian peace moves, calling them a sellout of the Palestinian cause.
[According to the U.S. State Department
report on terrorism, in the fall of 1997, Tehran hosted numerous representatives
of terrorist groups--including HAMAS, Lebanese Hizballah, the PIJ, and
the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiya--at a conference of "Liberation Movements."
Participants reportedly discussed the jihad, establishing greater coordination
between certain groups, and an increase in support for some groups. In
October, the Algerian Government accused Tehran of training and equipping
Algerian terrorists.]
More Strikes Threatened in Iran, Associated Press, April 30
NAJAFABAD - The bazaar in this western Iranian town has reopened after a five-day strike, but merchants said Thursday they may close their stalls again in support of a cleric under house arrest.
The strike -- the third in Najafabad in the last two months -- was to protest the government's restrictions on the movements of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a native son.
Montazeri -- a cleric who has challenged the clergy's right to rule the Islamic regime -- has been confined to his house in the holy city of Qom.
Merchants here shuttered their shops beginning Saturday, but began reopening them Wednesday after being prodded by Iranian security forces. By Thursday, almost all were open.
Residents said about 100 people, including a strike leader, remained in detention. One person, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said the strike could resume over the weekend.
The divisions over Montazeri recall the tumult earlier this month surrounding the arrest of Tehran Mayor on corruption charges.
The mayor's arrest, which set off the largest street protests since Iran's 1979 revolution, was widely believed to stem from a major power struggle. It was also viewed as an effort by conservative factions to undermine President Mohammad Khatami.