NICOSIA - The People's Mujahedeen, the main armed Iranian opposition group, claimed responsibility Wednesday for a mortar attack on the headquarters of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

The group, which also claimed the bombing of an Islamic court in the Iranian capital on Tuesday, said it was "expanding operations against the clerical regime."

"A number of Revolutionary Guards were killed or wounded" in the mortar bombing of the compound at Doshan Tappeh in eastern Tehran on Tuesday evening, the Mujahedeen said in a statement received here. At least five major buildings were also damaged, it said.

The Mujahedeen said the "surprise attack" was launched to avenge the killing of several of its members by Pasdaran units in October.

Iranian state radio acknowledged an incident at the Pasdaran headquarters, saying a "group of terrorists" fled after a failed attack, "leaving behind explosives and weapons."

The Mujahedeen also claimed another mortar attack on a warehouse and ammunition depot of Iran's Defense Industries Organization on Tuesday evening, but there was no official acknowledgement of such an incident.

Unjustifiable Interference in Internal Affairs of Iranian People, Reuter, June 3

WASHINGTON - The United States condemned on Wednesday rebel attacks which killed three people and injured six in the Iranian capital Tehran.

The U.S. State Department noted in a statement that the Mujahideen Khalq has claimed responsibility for the attacks and that the U.S. government includes the Mujahideen on its list of terrorist organizations.

"The United States Government strongly condemns the terrorist attacks in Tehran... We offer our condolences to the victims," the statement added.

The Mujahideen quickly hit back, accusing the State Department of trying to please the Iranian government.

"Like the inclusion of the Mujahideen's name in the list of foreign terrorist organizations, this statement is more of the same shameful policy of appeasement of the bloodthirsty mullahs," said a statement by the Mujahideen's Paris office.

"This position ... will only encourage the religious terrorist dictatorship of the mullahs to continue its internal repression and export of terrorism," it added.

[Associated Press also reported that: The Paris office of the Mujahedeen called Rubin's statement "an unjustifiable interference in the internal affairs of the Iranian people."]

Analysts say Washington's public position on the Mujahideen is heavily influenced by its desire to open a dialogue with the Iranian government.

One explosion, the first of two in Tehran on Tuesday, killed three people at an Islamic Revolutionary courthouse. The Mujahideen said the only people there would be those who interrogate and torture political dissidents.

Guards Chief Says Forces Watching Opponents, Reuter, June 3

TEHRAN - The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said his forces would bide their time before moving against opponents who have thrived under President Mohammad Khatami, newspapers said on Wednesday.

"The Guards...have identified many of the elements of these groups...They have at this time left them free to set up their groups and newspapers but we will go after them when the time is ripe," the daily Hamshahri quoted Revolutionary Guards Commander Brigadier-General Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying.

Safavi recently drew criticism for his remarks to "cut the necks and tongues" of opponents.

Safavi, speaking to a gathering of hardline students, said the Guards were monitoring "the third group," apparently meaning liberals and dissidents outside the mainstream rival factions which share power in Iran.

"The fruit has to be picked when it is ripe. That fruit is unripe now. We will pick it...when it turns ripe," Safavi was quoted as saying.

"We have thrown a stone inside the nest of snakes which have received blows from our revolution, and are giving them time to stick their heads out," he said.

"We do not interfere in politics but if we see that the foundations of our system of government and our revolution is threatened...we get involved," Safavi said.

Turk Court Raises Sentence on Iranian for Murders, Reuter, June 3

ISTANBUL - A Turkish court increased the sentence on an Iranian convicted of the murder of two Iranian opposition exiles, Anatolian news agency said.

It said the Istanbul court handed down a life sentence with one year in solitary confinement to Reza Berzeger Masoumi for the killing of dissident Zahra Rajabi and Ali Moradi in 1996. The previous sentence of 33 years in jail had been overturned on appeal.

The Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq, of which Rajabi was a leading member, has accused Iranian diplomats in Turkey of ordering the shooting.
 

Back to Brief on Iran