In a confidential meeting last Thursday with a number of newspaper editors and proprietors, mullahs' president Mohammad Khatami urged that they refrain from further reporting on the ghastly murders in recent weeks and the role of the regime's officials, reports from Iran say. He also asked them not to criticize the Intelligence Ministry.

To prevent any crack in the wall of repression, Khatami heaped praise on the Ministry's henchmen and torturers. He is also trying to prevent these revelations from implicating the Guards Corps, and other organs and leaders of the regime, including Khamenei and himself.
 
 

Cleric Wants Secret Police Purged, Reuters, January 11

TEHRAN - Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri called in a statement published Monday for a thorough purge of the country's secret police after revelations of death-squads in the organization.

He was echoing demands by backers of President Mohammad Khatami who have called for the resignation of Intelligence Minister Qorbanali Dorri Najafabadi after his ministry revealed last week that some of its agents were among those arrested for a recent spate of killing of dissidents.

Meanwhile a shadowy hard-line group hailed the killings and blasted the arrests, saying "brothers and dedicated friends" were targeted and vowing to take revenge.

"The Devotees of Pure Mohammedan Islam ... are determined this time to block with full force the main source of this sinister plot and extensive hypocrisy," the daily Hamshahri Sunday quoted the secret group as saying in a faxed statement. It was not clear if the remarks were a threat against Khatami.

The hard-line daily Kayhan Monday rejected the widely held view that hard-liners were behind the killings. It quoted Ruhollah Hosseinian, the head of a state archives center, as saying the arrested secret agents were supporters of Khatami.

Conservatives have rushed to Dorri Najafabadi's defense after Khamenei, who outranks Khatami, last week voiced support for the intelligence minister and his colleagues and said the killings were part of a foreign plot.
 
 

Iran Industry Investment Dives as Economy Slows, Reuters, January 11

TEHRAN - Investment in new industrial projects in Iran has been almost halved in recent months following an economic slowdown due to a slump in oil prices.

The daily Abrar-e Eqtesadi on Monday quoted a senior Industry Ministry official as saying investment in new plants amounted to 11.2 trillion rials ($3.7 billion) in the eight months to November 21, 1998, down 48 percent year on year.

The number of jobs created in the period fell 41 percent to some 108,000, the economic daily quoted Oyarhossein as saying.

Earlier, Parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri said the government had been unable to provide more than 45 percent of funds earmarked to state bodies in the current Iranian year, which ends on March 20.
 
 

Cultural Onslaught, BBC World Service, January 10

The Speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, has warned of what he called a cultural onslaught being waged against the country.

In remarks reported by the Iranian news agency, Mr. Nateq-Nuri said that Iran is facing more dangerous attacks than those in the Iran-Iraq war.

He said the real war now is a cultural one, with the religious beliefs of young people facing a cultural onslaught from Iran's enemies.

He also referred to what he called the great pressure on the government and the people caused by problems arising from the fall in the price of oil.
 
 

Russia to Push Forward With Iran Nuclear Reactor, Reuters, January 9

MOSCOW - Russia said on Saturday it would push forward with the construction of an atomic reactor in Iran, a project which has been criticized by the United States for threatening security in the Middle East.

The United States and Israel fear the planned 1,000 megawatt light-water reactor at Bushehr on the Gulf coast will help Iran develop nuclear weapons.

Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that the reactor's first unit was between 30 and 40 percent complete at a cost of around $100 million.

Washington said last month it was convinced that Iran was using the Bushehr reactor project as a cover for acquiring sensitive Russian nuclear technology.

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