BAGHDAD - An Iranian exile group said on Saturday that it expected Tehran to launch an "imminent" air and missile attack against its bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of a top Iranian general last week.

"The clerical regime is preparing itself for an imminent air and missile attack against the bases of the Mujahideen and National Liberation Army in Iraq territory," the group said in a statement.

It said the commanders of several Iranian air bases were called to Tehran on Thursday for a briefing on the planned attack.

[In the statement, the NCR drew the attention of the United Nations Secretary General and Security Council to the clerical regime's planned attacks. It said, "in clear violation of international law, including the Security Council resolution 598, such attacks could endanger peace and tranquillity in the region."

["Undertaking urgent measures to prevent such aggression is imperative. Silence on the part of the international community emboldens them (the mullahs' regime) to continue their crimes.]
 

Resistance Denies Any Link Between Baghdad And Its Operations Inside Iran, Agence France Presse, April 17

BAGHDAD - In a statement sent to Nicosia on Saturday the Iranian Resistance denied there was any link between Baghdad and its operations inside Iran.

It said the opposition work it carries out inside Iran is "in no way related to Iraq," accusing the Iranian regime of claiming a link as a pretext for suppressing its activities.

It also said that Tehran was planning an air strike on Mujahedeen sites inside Iraq, adding that Iranian pilots and planes had been transferred to an air base near the border in preparation for the raids.

[In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Security Council members, Massoud Rajavi, President of the NCR, described as absolutely false these claims by the regime. He challenged Iran's rulers to attend an international tribunal under the auspices of the United Nations to prove their claim.

[As far as Mojahedin's operations inside Iran are concerned, he said, they are entirely the work of the Mojahedin's command headquarters inside Iran and are in no way related to Iraq. The clerical regime has no proof or evidence of such a link and this could be proven in any court of law.]
 
 

Khatami Pays Tribute to A War Criminal, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 18

In his speech today on the Army Day, Khatami again heaped praise on Maj. Gen. Ali Sayyad Shirazi, describing him as a "nation's hero" and "one of noble children of Iran, Islam and the offspring of the nation."

Unable to conceal his anger over overwhelming joy and enthusiasm on the part of Iranians over the punishment of Sayyad Shirazi, Khatami claimed brazenly that "Mojahedin have no place in this country."

Consistent with all international yardsticks, including the 1948 Geneva Convention, Sayyad Shirazi -- the butcher of Kurdistan, murderer of Mojahedin, responsible for purging and executing dissident military personnel and accountable for sending thousands of teenagers to their death over mine fields -- perpetrated genocide, crimes against humanity and was a war criminal.

Khatami's repugnant tribute to Sayyad Shirazi, reminiscent of his commendations for Assadollah Lajevardi, the mullahs' Adolf Eichmann, demonstrates that he is not a man of reform.
 

National Liberation Army of Iran, A Powerful Army, Agence France Presse, April 13

BAGHDAD - The People's Mujahedeen, who on Saturday killed a top Iranian general in a campaign to topple the Tehran regime, have built up a powerful army in exile.

The Mujahedeen are the main armed Iranian opposition group, led by Massoud Rajavi, and in 1986 created the National Army of Iranian Liberation, which it claims has some 50,000 soldiers.

According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the NAIL fields 15,000 men and materiel captured in Iran including some 160 tanks, Mi-8 helicopters and artillery. NAIL has five large military bases in the east of Iraq close to the border with Iran.

In January, they claimed to have launched mortars at the headquarters of the intelligence ministry in Tehran, part of a campaign aimed only at military targets.

The Mujahedeen also maintain a large scale offensive across the airwaves, with a radio station near the border broadcasting for 16 hours a day.

TV programs are also beamed from Iraq to western Iran. The group also claims to have launched a satellite TV channel in February 1997.

Despite Western discomfort with the Mujahedeen's presence in Iraq, the group insists it makes no difference to Iranians. "You can't fight a war from Los Angeles," said Mohammad Mohadessin, foreign policy spokesman for the National Council of Iranian Resistance, a political umbrella body which seeks to represent all opposition groups.

"If you are serious about waging a meaningful and successful campaign you need land on the border."

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