An official of the clerical regime told the Iranian news agency that one of the main issues discussed between the regime's representatives and the European Union in Vienna was to protest over the presence and activities of Iranian Resistance supporters in European countries.

The news agency, IRNA, wrote that the regime "had protested strongly" against the "presence of terrorist groups" in Europe and the "policy of leniency and support by Western governments" for them. Mohammad Mohaddessin, NCR's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said that these brazen remarks demonstrated the extent to which that the European countries' policy of appeasing the theocratic regime ruling Iran has emboldened the regime to continue its policy of suppression and export of terrorism.

He added: In this way, the mullahs intend to spread repression and torture of their opponents to European capitals. Just yesterday, simultaneous with the joint session of the representative of EU and the regime, terrorists from the mullahs' embassy attacked and assaulted supporters of the Iranian Resistance in Vienna.

Mohaddessin stressed that the mullahs are asking the EU to restrict the activities of Iranian refugees and supporters of the Iranian Resistance in Europe at a time when their terrorists have been either condemned or prosecuted in many European courts, including Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy for perpetrating terrorist crimes.

Mohaddessin said: "Peaceful and lawful protests by Iranians against the presence in Europe of this regime's officials are clear manifestations of the Iranian people's opposition to these ties. The time has come for the EU to abide by the will of the majority of Iranians and impose political and trade sanctions on this faltering regime."
 

Press Watchdog Seeks Tehran's Go-Ahead For Probe into Writers' Deaths, Agence France Presse, December 17

TEHRAN -The French-based journalists' watchdog group Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has asked Tehran for permission to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the mysterious kidnapping and murder of three writers here.

The group asked President Mohammad Khatami "to facilitate a trip to Iran by representatives" from the group for a "fact-finding mission," according to a copy of a letter to the president faxed to AFP.

The watchdog expressed concern about attempts among some officials to point the finger at exiled opposition groups.
 

Two Explosions Rock Iran, Seven Killed in One Blast, Dow Jones News, December 20

TEHRAN (AP) - Two explosions rocked Iran Sunday, as buildings were damaged and seven people were killed, Iranian state-run television reported.

A car bomb in southeastern Iran damaged several buildings, but injured no one. And seven people were killed in an explosion near the northern city of Qazvin.

The broadcast said the explosion in Qazvin, 150 kilometers northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, took place when "some explosives caught fire."

Besides saying that the blast killed seven people, the report gave no other details.

Meantime, the car bomb exploded outside an office of the hard-line Basij volunteer militia in the city of Zahedan, the TV said. The brief report didn't say when that blast took place and gave no other details.

Separately, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported provincial authorities as saying they had found clues indicating that the perpetrators of the Zahedan bombing had slipped into Iran from across the border.

The report didn't say which border, but Zahedan is close to Iran's border with Pakistan.

The bomb was hidden in a car that was stolen two weeks ago in Zahedan, IRNA said.

The explosions come at a time of high tension between moderate and hard-line rivals inside Iran's Islamic government. Tensions between the two factions have risen following the killings of five dissidents in just over a month.
 

Several Quakes Hit Northern Iran, Agence France Presse, December 19

TEHRAN - A quake close to the capital Saturday was followed by two further temblors in other areas of northern Iran, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The first quake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale hit Taleghan to the northwest of the capital at 08:24 a.m. (0454 GMT), the news agency said -- there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Two further quakes measuring 4.8 and 4.5 on the Richter scale were registered in the Tonekabon district on the Caspian coast, it said.

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