Back to Brief on Iran
The clerical regime's Intelligence Minister, Mullah Ali Younessi, alluded to the Mojahedin in an interview with the state-run television last night and urged the public to report "any suspicious news of terrorists, saboteurs, spies and conspirators to the closest Intelligence Ministry's news-gathering center."
Younessi offered the "best prize" to the first person turning in such information. "Certainly, any report from you will be the source of a great development," Younessi added.
Younessi's pleading with the public for information on the activities of the Mojahedin and Iranian Resistance comes in the wake of a heavy mortar attack on the headquarters of the Guards Corps' Bassij in Tehran's Afsarieh district. In earlier attacks, the Mojahedin had pounded the Guards Corps headquarters and the Ministry of Intelligence with mortars in the heart of Tehran.
Over the past Iranian year which ended
on March 21, Resistance cells also launched three major publicity campaign
across the country in 419 cities in June, in 517 cities in October, and
in 398 cities in February. In the same period, social protests, demonstrations
and workers and student strikes tripled in numbers compared with last year.
A Plot That Backfired On Killers, Los Angeles Times, March 26
TEHRAN - There are some events whose significance is knowable only in retrospect. The death last year of Mohammed Jafar Pouyandeh may well have been one of those occurrences: the killing of an obscure translator that could mark a turning point for Iran.
Pouyandeh, who was little known outside a small circle of intellectuals and writers, was abducted, strangled and dumped along a railroad track in December.
He was the last of at least six Iranian dissidents who disappeared, were slain or died under suspicious circumstances in the waning days of 1998.
The perpetrators of the crimes apparently intended to sow terror among their political opponents, but the opposite happened… .
After disclosure of the Intelligence Ministry's role, 10 people reportedly were arrested, though they have not been publicly identified. According to media reports, some upper-level managers in the ministry were implicated….
She [Pouyandeh's wife] is not hopeful about what the future holds for Iran, despite the nationwide condemnation engendered by the killing of her husband and the others.
"In my opinion, it is not possible to predict the future of Iran, because one day I woke up and found that my husband had been killed. . . .
"A place that should protect the security
of the state and its citizens has been transformed into a place of murderers."
France Not Prepared to Bow to Mullahs, Reuter, March 30
PARIS - France on Tuesday renewed an invitation to Mohammad Khatami to visit Paris which has been snubbed by Tehran because wine would be served at a state banquet.
Official sources confirmed Khatami put off the visit because France rejected Iran's demands for no wine bottles on the table. Non-alcoholic drinks were also to be served at the banquet.
The sources, who asked not to be identified, said France, where wine is an important part of the national culture, was not prepared to bow to Iran's demand.
They said yielding could open a Pandora's
box of demands, possibly including requests that women wear Islamic veils
at receptions for leaders of Moslem countries.
Iran Non-Oil Exports Fall 2 Percent To $3 Billion, Reuter, March 30
TEHRAN - Iran's non-oil exports, stagnant in the past few years, fell 2 percent to about $3 billion in the year to March, Iranian television reported on Tuesday.
It said Iran exported $1.6 billion worth of industrial products, $750 million in agricultural goods, and carpets and handicraft worth $700 million in the Iranian year that ended on March 20.
Iran, badly hit by a slump in oil prices, has had little success in boosting non-oil exports despite moves to relax tough foreign exchange controls and restrictive state regulations.
Iran's customs head Mehdi Karbasian told Iranian television the decline in non-oil exports was due to problems in importing raw materials because of hard currency shortages, as well as to the low quality of some exports.