Back to Brief on Iran
The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on Tuesday quoting news reports indicating that two oil companies, Elf Aquitaine of France and Canada's Bow Valley, have signed a 300-million-dollar contract with the Iranian clerical regime for the development and exploitation of the offshore site of Balal.
The NCR strongly condemned signing oil contracts with Iran's ruling religious, terrorist dictatorship. It said that the deals are considered to be against the highest interests of the Iranian people, and urged the relevant governments to oppose such agreements.
In the past 20 years, the clerical regime has spent all its oil revenues solely on suppression, buildup of weapons, export of terrorism, and procurement of weapons of mass destruction. Not a single dollar is spent for the well being and development of the Iranian society.
While the gross violations of human
rights continue unabated in Iran and while the international human rights
organizations report the continuation of executions, torture, suppression
of women and ethnic and religious minorities, as well as a rash of political
murders, such contracts only serve to prolong the rule of the criminal
mullahs and are in no way acceptable to the people of Iran who long for
the overthrow of this medieval regime in its entirety.
US "Strongly Opposed" to Oil Deals With Iran, U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, April 5
QUESTION: ELF, the French oil company trying to deal with Iran - I can't recall all the details, but do you - does this fall - is it liable to be sanctioned under the ILSA?
MR. RUBIN: We are deeply disappointed and greatly concerned
about this development. The US remains strongly opposed to investment in
Iran's petroleum sector. We have repeatedly urged the governments of France
and Canada, at the most senior levels, to discourage this investment. As
in all such cases, we will look closely at the facts of what has happened
and will be assessing the implications under the Iran-Libya sanctions act.
If sanctionable activity is found to have occurred, we will decide upon
and take appropriate action….
Mullahs Received Banned Nuclear Technology, Equipment From China, The Washington Times, April 7
…In a report set for release today, the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control said China was allowed to purchase strategic goods with both military and civilian applications because of lax Commerce Department export controls.
…"Several of the Chinese buyers later supplied nuclear, missile and military equipment to Iran and Pakistan."…
Among the sales listed in the report that were approved by the Commerce Department are:
Iran Newspaper Confiscated, The Associated Press, April 7
Authorities confiscated copies of an Iranian newspaper Wednesday after the daily defied a ban imposed for printing a cartoon deemed insulting to Islam, its editor said.
Court officials, citing the cartoon as well as a letter the paper published from Iran's former empress said the Zan newspaper will be banned from publishing until after the case goes to court. A trial date was not released.
Editors at Zan, which means "woman," had tried to publish despite the ban, but its editor Faraj Balafkan said Wednesday the pages were confiscated.
The ban is part of a crackdown on several newspapers by hard-liners in the judiciary and represents moves by the conservative clergy to thwart Khatami's efforts.
Gholamhossein Rahbarpour, head of Iran's Revolutionary Courts, said Wednesday the ban would remain in force until the paper's owner, Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, is brought to court.