Speaking at Tehran's Friday prayer congregation today, mullah Mohammad Yazdi, head of the Judiciary, once again tried to attribute the recent wave of murders to the "enemies of the state and the Islamic regime," in order to conceal the role of the clerical regime's highest officials in these crimes.

Several mysterious murders have occurred in the past few days in Tehran and other cities. The Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office had already threatened the victims of these heinous killings to death, the victims' relatives say.

The National Council of Resistance again in a statement called "for the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Iran to investigate these crimes, and demands that the clerical regime's human rights abuses and terrorism be referred to the United Nations Security Council for the adoption of binding decisions."
 
 

Iranians Told To Tighten Their Belts, Agence France Presse, December 25

TEHRAN - Iranians were warned on Friday that they will have to tighten their belts in the face of the economic crisis facing the country as oil prices plummet.

"Our oil income has been almost halved, and we must all be careful not to be wasteful," the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told worshippers at Moslem weekly prayers at Tehran University.

The fall in oil income has started to impact on Iran's ability to pay its debts.

Latest figures from the central bank show medium and long term debt amounting to 12 billion dollars, or 22 billion if short-term trade obligations are included.
 

Iran Says Six-Month Non-Oil Exports Down Seven Pct, Reuter, December 24

TEHRAN - Iran's non-oil exports, which Tehran has been trying to boost to counter a fall in its oil income, fell seven percent in the six months to September 22, figures released on Thursday showed.

The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted a report by Iran's customs as saying the exports amounted to $1.3 billion in the six-month period, down seven- percent year on year.

The fall in non-oil exports is a serious blow to Iran's economy, already reeling from the current slump in oil prices.
 
 

Khamenei Says US World 'Despot', Rejects Ties, Reuter, December 25

TEHRAN - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted the United States on Friday as a world "despot" bent on dominating Iran, and he ruled out ties with Washington.

"As long as this nation has Islam, it will not compromise with America," Khamenei told worshippers gathered at the Tehran University campus on the first Friday of the holy Moslem fasting month of Ramadan.

"America wants to act like a despot..."

Worshippers responded with the Moslem rallying cry of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and by chanting "Death to America."

Khamenei, who outranks the elected president, has repeatedly ruled out ties with the United States.
 
 

Tehran Protesters Slam U.S. And Wye River Accord, Reuter, January 3

TEHRAN - About 1,000 members of Islamic associations attended a rally in Tehran on Sunday in protest against the United States and the Wye River peace accord it brokered between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Chanting "Death to America," "Death to Israel" and "The Maryland accord is condemned" the demonstrators marched from the former U.S. embassy -- now a Revolutionary Guards training center -- to Tehran's Palestine Square, where a U.S. flag and an effigy of Uncle Sam were set on fire.
 
 

British Airways Taking "Great Risk" In Lifting No-Fly Ban On Rushdie, Agence France Presse, December 24

TEHRAN - An Iranian newspaper warned British Airways on Thursday it was taking a "great risk" by lifting a nine-year ban on the author Salman Rushdie from flying on its airplanes.

"BA has taken a great risk. Such a decision confirms that BA has no respect for the feelings of Moslems," Tehran Times warned.

British Airways announced on Wednesday that it had lifted its nine-year ban preventing Rushdie from flying on its airplanes on the grounds that he posed a security risk.

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