Back to Brief on Iran
BAGHDAD - The armed Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq said on
Tuesday Iranian government agents had attacked one of its bases in Iraq, killing an Iraqi.
It said in a statement Iranian "terrorists" fired at the group's Zahra Rajabi military camp near the Iraqi city of Kut 172 km (103 miles) south of Baghdad on Friday.
"An Iraqi civilian was killed and two were wounded in the attack," the statement said.
It said the attackers kidnapped another Iraqi and drove him back to Iran after attacking the base, which is 50 km (30 miles) from the Iraq-Iran border.
Mujahideen bases have been the target
of air and rocket attacks by Iran. Their office in Baghdad, ringed by a
concrete wall, has survived several mortar and bomb attacks.
In Another Blow To Khatami, Mullahs' Leader Declines To Pardon Tehran Ex-Mayor, Reuter, May 11
TEHRAN - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected calls to issue a pardon for Tehran's former moderate mayor, who was jailed after being convicted for graft.
In a letter read in parliament on Tuesday, Khamenei said: "The authority to resolve such matters lies with the judiciary, and it is in the good of the country and the people if legal rulings are not undermined with different motives."
Khamenei, who has the power to issue legal pardons, was responding to a letter from a majority of the 270-member parliament calling on him to "resolve the problem" of the jailing of Gholamhossein Karbaschi.
"It is my hope that the defense of state managers, which in its right place is commendable, will not lead to immunity from prosecution," said Khamenei in the letter read to the parliament session, which was broadcast on state radio.
Khamenei's refusal to intervene is a blow to backers of Khatami, who had pinned their hopes on a pardon from the spiritual leader to secure the release of Karbaschi, a close ally of the president.
Last week, Karbaschi began a two-year
jail term after being convicted of graft last year by the conservative-run
judiciary.
Strengthening Mullahs' Nuclear Capabilities, The New York Times, May 5
Excerpts from an article by Gary Milhollin and Jordan Richie
WASHINGTON - ...A study we recently completed shows that the Commerce Department approved more than $15 billion worth of strategically sensitive exports to China in the last decade....
And unbeknownst to the American suppliers, several of these Chinese companies later sold nuclear and other military equipment to Iran and Pakistan, according to American intelligence reports and news accounts....
In all, the military and strategic value of what China got from the Commerce Department was at least as great as what it may have gotten from spies. Consider the following:
The state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation was allowed to buy equipment useful for uranium prospecting.... China National Nuclear then helped Iran prospect for uranium that American intelligence officials believe will be used in making nuclear weapons.
The state-owned China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation, which manufactures China's newest anti-ship cruise missiles, was allowed to buy a computer system that is useful for simulating wind effects. Not only did these missiles strengthen the Chinese military, but the company has also exported some to Iran, where, according to the United States naval commander in the Persian Gulf, they threaten our personnel.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences was
allowed to buy equipment ... for processing data from an experimental fusion
reactor. The academy then exported the reactor to Iran, where it is used
for training nuclear scientists....
Press Digest, Reuter, May 11
TEHRAN - These are some of the leading stories in Iranian newspapers on Tuesday.
SALAM - Iran has a shortage of 400,000 classrooms, a state education official said.
JAHAN-E EQTESAD - Water authorities warned residents in Tehran's high rise flats that anyone living above the third floor may not get water this summer, because of low water pressure prompted by severe shortages.