Back to Brief on Iran
BAGHDAD - Iranian agents tried to blast a vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade outside the opposition Mujahideen Khaliqs headquarters in Baghdad on Saturday night, the exile group said on Sunday.
The rocket missed by a few meters, guards at the headquarters fired back and the ambusher fled, the Mujahideen said. No one was hurt.
The statement said it was the 64th "terrorist and military operation by the Mullah's regime since 1993" against Mujahideen bases in Iraq.
Mujahideen bases have been the target of air and rocket attacks by Iran
and their office in Baghdad, now ringed with concrete wall, has weathered
several mortar and bomb attacks.
France Frees Mullahs' Agent Jailed for Political Assassination Ahead of FM Visit, Agence France Presse, August 1
TEHRAN - An Iranian jailed in France for complicity in the 1991 assassination near Paris of Shah’s last prime minister Shahpur Bakhtiar has returned home after being freed early, his family said Saturday.
Massud Hendi, who was convicted to 10 years in jail, returned to Iran on Friday, said Hendi’s brother, Ali-Reza. The release came ahead of a landmark visit here by French Foreign Minister Hubert.
A consortium led by the French group Total signed a two-billion-dollar deal with Tehran in September to develop Iran’s South Pars gas field despite US threats to penalize companies making energy-related investments in Iran.
The French car maker PSA Peugeot-Citroen is also set to begin building Peugeot 205 cars in Iran under license.
Iranian Resistance Condemns Release of Hendi,
Agence France Presse, August 1
NICOSIA - Iran’s main armed opposition group on Saturday condemned France’s early release of an Iranian jailed for complicity in the 1991 assassination near Paris of Shah’s last prime minister Shahpur Bakhtiar.
"The Iranian resistance strongly condemns the release of (Massud) Hendi, whose role in terrorism was confirmed by a French court and who had a long record in terrorist activities," said the People’s Mujahedeen.
"It considers the action a mockery of France’s judicial system."
"The release of terrorists such as Hendi, despite their court convictions, assures the mullahs’ agents that they will not be punished, even when arrested for committing terrorist crimes," said the Mujahedeen.
The group, in a statement received here, said the release "encourages the ruling theocratic regime to persist in its actions."
Khatami Praises Test Firing of Missile, Reuters, August 1
DUBAI - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami urged the armed forces on Saturday to keep out of political rivalries.
"President Khatami... called on the Iranian armed forces to focus on beefing up the country's defenses and to stay above political factionalism," the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
Khatami has faced strong opposition from conservative and hard-line opponents who control many centers of power including the parliament, the judiciary, the armed forces, the police and internal security forces.
Khatami praised the recent test firing of a medium-range missile, saying it showed trade sanctions did not prevent Iran from developing its armed forces.
Iran last month said it had successfully launched a Shehab-3 missile, which has a range is sufficient to reach Israel, Saudi Arabia, much of Turkey and parts of Russia.
Top Cleric Calls for Curbs on Media, Reuters, July 31
TEHRAN - A senior conservative cleric on Friday lashed out at media and urged the minister in charge of the press to keep outspoken newspapers under control.
"The newspapers and magazines today...in the name of freedom, are committing all sorts of wrongs," said Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the country's top judge who held Friday's prayer sermon at Tehran University.
"Our officials should take notice. This is an Islamic country," Yazdi said, complaining that the Iranian media were spreading anti-Islamic messages. "They even go so far as to attack the Imam," Yazdi said.
The criticism of the press was a thinly veiled attack on Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ataollah Mohajerani -- a key ally of President Khatami.
Yazdi, who is an influential voice in conservative circles, criticized the minister for allowing the publication of a newspaper almost identical to one that was banned by Iran's Press Court in June.
"You defended this (the publication of Tous) as though it were within the law, but I say it is outside of the law," Yazdi said.
"I expect the minister to act before someone has to step in and act
on his behalf," Yazdi said, stating that the publication of Tous was illegal.