TEHRAN - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday blasted backers of a dissident senior cleric over their plan to hold a demonstration in the central city of Isfahan, Iran's official news agency IRNA said.

It said Khamenei "called on the Isfahani people to neutralize the attempts by deceived people to spoil the Friday prayers ceremony tomorrow."

Newspapers said backers of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who is under house arrest, had called on people in Isfahan to voice support for the dissident cleric during the prayers.

Khamenei said the rally was part of a conspiracy "by the U.S. arrogant system and their Zionist elements" and urged people to attend the prayers but not to allow the plot to take place.

"I know they will not allow (it)," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying in a message broadcast on local radio and television.

Isfahan province, and particularly Montazeri's hometown of Najafabad, has been a hotbed of protests since the dissident was placed under house arrest and prevented from teaching after he questioned the authority of Khamenei in a speech in November.

Montazeri's rare public challenge to Khamenei's paramount power prompted violent demonstrations by hardliners in which the dissident's house and offices were attacked.

The daily Jameah said Montazeri's backers had urged people to chant slogans at the Friday prayers demanding freedom of speech and thought, and supporting the right of Montazeri and other religious scholars to express their views.

The newspaper said the dissidents urged their supporters to avoid violence and cooperate with police during the protest.

Montazeri's treatment by the authorities has sparked repeated strikes by shopkeepers in Najafabad in recent months.
 

Iranians Use More Than One Million Barrels of Oil Products Each Day, Agence France Presse, May 13

TEHRAN - The oil ministry voiced concern on Wednesday over the rising amount of energy consumption in Iran, where an average 1.1 million barrels of oil products were burned each day in the year to March.

The ministry said Iranians burned 220,000 barrels of gasoline each day, with around one quarter consumed in the capital alone.

Iran imported 251 million barrels of oil products last year, costing the government around 700 million dollars.

Although the country is a major producer of crude oil, it still needs to import some refined products for domestic consumption.
 

U.S. Seen Waiving Iran Sanctions on Total, Dow Jones News, May 14

WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration will soon - perhaps as early as Friday - announce a decision to waive punitive trade sanctions against three foreign companies that last year signed a $2 billion energy deal with Iran, U.S. officials and diplomats indicated Thursday.

Assistant Secretary of State Martin S. Indyk told a Senate panel Thursday that a ruling on the matter is 'imminent. We expect to be briefing members (of Congress) on the decision in the next few days.'

'It is my understanding that a decision under ILSA regarding the Total/Gazprom deal is imminent, and reliable rumors say the administration has decided on a national interest waiver,' Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East Affairs, said to Indyk.

Such a waiver would be a mistake and would be hard to justify, the senator told the official. It would also be unfair to American companies, Brownback said, who are barred by a U.S. executive order from investing in Iran.
 

Iran Warns Argentina Over Bombings Charges, Agence France Presse, May 14

TEHRAN - Iran protested angrily Thursday against accusations that it failed to cooperate with Argentine authorities over two bombings of Jewish groups in Buenos Aires that left 115 people dead.

It warned that such "unconstructive behavior" by Argentina in future would draw a sharp reaction from Tehran.

Argentina told Iran Tuesday it was unhappy over what it called Tehran's lack of cooperation with probes into a March 1994 car bombing of the headquarters of the Argentine Jewish Groups Federation and 1992 blast at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.

Mohammadi warned Argentine authorities not to be "duped by other conmen and not be influenced by Zionist propaganda" against the Islamic republic.

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