BAGHDAD- The Iranian opposition Mujahideen Khaliq said on Friday Iran had attacked one of its units inside Iraq, but it made no mention of casualties.

It said in a statement the incident took place on the Khalis-Kirkuk highway, 60 km (37 miles) north of Baghdad.

"This was the 72nd terrorist operation by the clerical regime against the Iranian Resistance on Iraqi territory since 1993," the statement said.

The Mujahideen Khaliq use Iraq as a springboard for attacks into Iran and have several bases equipped with tanks, heavy guns and helicopter gunships close to the Iranian 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.
 
 

Khatami Pledges Anti-Peace Process Support For Hizbollah, Reuter, May 15

DAMASCUS - Iran's Khatami on Saturday met the leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah for talks which the Shi'ite Moslem group said resulted in renewed support by Tehran for its war of attrition against Israel.

Khatami held lengthy talks with Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as guerrillas attacked positions in Israel's South Lebanon occupation zone.

Asked if Khatami and Nasrallah discussed Monday's Israeli election, which looks set to sweep hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office, an official said: "We believe that any change in the Israeli government will not bring about change in its Zionist, expansionist intentions."

Iran maintains that Israel has no right to exist. The Iranian leader also met Palestinian radicals opposed to peace with Israel.
 
 

Khatami Meets Palestinian Militant Groups In Damascus, Agence France Presse, May 14

DAMASCUS - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami paraded his government's continued support for the armed struggle against Israel Friday with a high-profile meeting with Palestinian militant groups based here.

Khatami held talks with leaders of all nine of the militant groups still vehemently opposed to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the peace process.

Among the opposition leaders the Iranian president met were representatives of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad as well as the biggest PLO opposition group, the secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The smaller Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which has broken with the rest of the opposition in recent months to pursue a gradual opening to Arafat's Palestinian Authority, was not represented at the meeting, opposition leaders said.

Khatami implicitly criticized Arafat without actually naming him, opposition officials said.

"Those who chose the path of negotiations and concessions to Israel must reap the consequences," PFLP spokesman Maher al-Taher quoted Khatami as saying.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi also attended the meeting, Assad spokesman Gebran Kurieh said.

[Associated Press reported the following in a related story:

One of the participants in Friday's meeting, Khaled Mashaal, head of the Islamic militant Hamas' political bureau, was quoted by the Iranian national news agency as expressing optimism that "we, as an Islamic nation, can confront the Zionist program."

Others participating in the meeting included Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah; Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command; and George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

"We discussed how the (Iranian) Islamic republic can become a haven for all currents" opposing the peace process, Jibril said in remarks to the Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency.]
 
 

Bahrain Minister Says Iran Still Hosts Opponents, Reuter, May 15

MANAMA - Bahrain's Defense Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in remarks published on Saturday that Iran was still hosting Bahraini opposition figures despite improved ties between the two countries.

Bahrain accused non-Arab Iran in 1996 of plotting with and training a guerrilla group to overthrow the government by force. Iran has denied the charge.
 

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