Five members of Congress have invited a former U.S. ambassador and a member of the Iranian resistance to speak at a press briefing on Iran tomorrow.

Ambassador James E. Akins, envoy to Saudi Arabia from 1973 to 1975 and now an expert on affairs in the Persian Gulf, and Soona Samsami of the National Council of Resistance of Iran will speak at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The briefing will cover Iran's drive to obtain weapons of mass destruction, human rights record and internal politics.

The briefing is sponsored by Reps. Gary L. Ackerman, New York Democrat; Robert Menendez, New Jersey Democrat; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican; Edolphus Towns, New York Democrat; and James A. Traficant Jr., Ohio Democrat.
 

Argentina Closing In on Bomb Suspects, Agence France Presse, May 20

BUENOS AIRES - An Iranian arrested in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center is helping Argentine police find Argentine accomplices, Attorney General Eamon Mullen said Wednesday.

The arrest of eight Iranians, some of whom have already been released, led to "progress to a pretty important point" in finding the Iranians' local contact, he said.

Prosecutors here allege that Tehran helped plan the bombing of the Jewish center bombing on July 18, 1994 that killed 86 people and a 1992 blast at the Israeli embassy here that killed 29.

Mullen said telephone taps had been authorized and suspects were being followed.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry on Friday ordered all officials at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, except the charge d'affaires, to leave by Wednesday.
 

Factions Start Debate on New Speaker of Parliament, Agence France Presse, May 18

TEHRAN - The two main factions in the Iranian parliament have begun in an intense debate over whom to pick as the assembly's new speaker as political conflict in the country deepens, parliamentary sources said Monday.

Majma-e-Hezbollah, the coalition close to President Mohammad Khatami, is opposed to the current speaker, conservative champion Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nuri, although it does not yet have an alternative candidate.

The conservatives currently hold the parliament's leadership and have a majority in the assembly, followed by the coalition and "independents."

The rightwing wants to retain Nateq-Nuri as speaker. Last year the 54-year-old was elected unchallenged, receiving 211 votes from the 243 MPs present.
 

Chief Justice Confirms Tehran Mayor to Be Tried, Agence France Presse, May 20

TEHRAN - The head of the Iranian judiciary confirmed Wednesday that Tehran mayor Gholam Hossein Karbaschi will be tried for corruption after the authorities complete their investigation.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi did not give a date for the trial but said the investigation into Karbaschi and three other suspects was continuing while a probe into another eight suspects had been completed.

Karbaschi's imprisonment in April provoked an unprecedented political crisis, and he was released on bail 12 days later after the Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, intervened.
 

Four Executed, Another Sentenced to Death, Reuter, May 18

TEHRAN - Iran has executed four men convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to death an Iranian convicted of spying for Iraq and carrying out bombings, a court official said Monday.

Gholamhossein Rahbarpour, head of Tehran's Revolutionary Courts, said the courts had also tried 150 "unreformable bandits," arrested in the Iranian year which began in March, and handed down sentences of death, prison or internal exile. He did not give a breakdown of the sentences.

[On May 18, in a statement the NCR said: Increasingly concerned over the spread of popular uprisings, in recent days, the ruling dictatorship has resumed the announcement of execution verdicts in its media. During the last three days, the state radio and television have reported at least six execution verdicts. This action is only intended to intimidate and terrorize the public.

[Today, the head of Tehran's so-called Islamic revolutionary courts said that 150 cases against "bandits and counter-revolutionaries" had been reviewed last year and that the accused were tried and received various sentences, such as executions, internal exile and life imprisonment. In the years past, Khomeini's anti-human regime has executed thousands of political prisoners under the guise of "bandits and counter-revolutionaries."]
 

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