WASHINGTON - Iran's opposition in exile marked the 20th anniversary of the Islamic revolution Thursday by denouncing President Mohammad Khatami and urging the United States to do the same.

Soona Samsami, U.S. representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, demanded that the Iranian government's leaders be tried in an international tribunal "for crimes against humanity."

She told a news conference that members of Khatami's government were responsible for what she said was the massacre in 1988 of "30,000 political prisoners" in prisons across Iran.

Twenty years after Iran's clergy swept to power and toppled the pro-Western monarchy of the shah, "there are no moderates within the Iranian regime," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who appeared with Samsami.

The congresswoman cautioned the Clinton administration against forging closer ties with Iran in the belief that Khatami is a voice of moderation. "The fact remains that no moderate can exist in a system that has thrived on terrorism, intimidation, brutality and fear for the past 20 years," she said.

Ros-Lehtinen is among 222 members of the House who signed a letter last fall urging President Clinton not to back away from the hard-line U.S. position against Iran.

U.S. Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, said overtures toward Khatami by the administration are wrong.

"Democracy in Iran will be developed from within, not without," he told the news conference.

Khalid Duran, editor of the quarterly magazine "Trans-Islam," said political gestures toward Khatami are likely to backfire.

"The notion that Western support for Khatami will produce the same results as it did for Gorbachev is a grave mistake," he said, referring to the former Soviet president. "Neither Khatami's makeup nor his circumstances resemble Gorbachev's."
 

[A related statement released by the office of Representatives Ros-Lehtenin and Ackerman, quoted Congressman Ackerman (D-NY) as saying "the United States must make any improvement in relations with Iran conditional upon a distinct and tangible change of behavior by the Iranian regime- externally and internally… The realities of Iran indicate that the United States recognize the right of the Iranian people to resist this utterly oppressive regime."

Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) reiterated his commitment to continue "active struggle to maintain the sanctions regime against the government of Iran despite efforts by irresponsible international corporations that seek profits despite the fact that they ultimately end up funding the Iranian government's opposition of its people, its build-up of weapons of mass destruction."]
 
 

Majority MPs In Britain Recognize Iranian Resistance's Legitimacy And Credibility, Iran Zamin News Agency, February 11

On the twentieth anniversary of the anti-monarchic revolution in Iran, a majority in Britain's House of Commons condemned in an all-party declaration the Foreign Office's policy of rapprochement with the clerical regime.

They also declared their support for the Mojahedin as a legitimate Resistance movement against the suppressive regime ruling Iran, stressing that as a majority in the U.S House of Representatives stated last autumn, labeling this Resistance movement as terrorist is totally unjustified.

The news was made public in a press conference by MPs Robin Corbett and Bruce George from the Labour Party and David Amess from the Conservative Party.

The 330 MPs, who comprise two-thirds of the Commons (not counting those MPs who are members of the government), stressed: "With the evidence of sustained support for the democratic political alternative put forward by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, it is not the right time for us to seek improved bilateral relations or continue our extensive ties with the regime. Any government, which believes in an ethical foreign policy, should not seek to improve relations with the mullahs' regime which sponsors international terrorism."
 
 

Khamenei Vows Iran to Stay on Revolution's Path, Reuter, February 10

TEHRAN - Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei vowed on Wednesday Iran would stay on its 20-year-old Islamic revolutionary path.

Khamenei also condemned the United States and Israel as the main enemies constantly plotting against Iran.

"Today the enemy is active as ever, but the future is a clear one. A new and energetic generation is ready for the struggle against the country's enemies," Khamenei said in the message which was read on state television and radio.

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