Back to Brief on Iran
DUBAI - Iranian authorities have arrested 13 people on charges of spying for Israel and the United States, state-run Iranian radio reported Monday.
The 13 were living among the Jewish community in the southern Fars province, the report said, citing an unidentified official. It did not say when the arrests were made or provide nationalities.
The suspects were accused of spying for the "Zionist regime" and "world arrogance," references to Israel and the United States, respectively.
"Confirming this report, an informed official announced that after due interrogation and documented evidence, the detainees are being prosecuted," the British Broadcasting Corp. quoted the report as saying.
Espionage is punishable by death in
Iran. In 1997, Iran hanged two people convicted of spying for Israel and
the United States.
Bombs Target Iran Opposition Group, Associated Press, June 7
BAGHDAD -Two bomb blasts apparently intended to damage the headquarters of an Iraq-based guerrilla group instead slightly injured a teen-ager and damaged other buildings and cars.
The bombs were planted about one mile from the well-guarded headquarters of the Mujahedeen Khalq, an Iranian opposition group.
A statement issued by the group claimed the attack was carried out by "terrorists dispatched by the clerical regime in Iran."
The Mujahedeen Khalq has more than
30,000 militarily trained men and women in 17 camps near the Iranian border.
The group's fighters often target Iranian government sites.
Iran Official Says Drought to Hit Barley Output , Reuters, June 6
TEHRAN - Iran produced 3.3 million tones of barley in the Iranian year to March, but production in the current year is severely threatened by drought, a newspaper quoted an official as saying on Sunday.
Officials in Iran -- which is a major importer of barley from international markets -- have warned that the country was facing its worse drought in 30 years.
The rise in domestic prices of barley
and corn has sharply pushed up poultry prices in Iran.
Admitting Khatami's Incompetence, Agence France Presses, June 7
TEHRAN - Faezeh Hashemi, an Iranian MP and the daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, has lashed out at the Islamic regime's conservative-dominated leadership.
"Meanwhile, I have to admit that unfortunately the (Khatami's) government has acted poorly in terms of economic considerations," Hashemi, in remarks published on Monday by the English-language Iran Daily, said.
Iran's 60 million population is still suffering from high unemployment and inflation rates.
On Friday, (mullahs') supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, urged Khatami's government to "pay greater attention to the economic problems of the country and the well-being of the population."
Mohammad Khatami "holds only a small portion of the power, (while) the remaining part of the ruling establishment confronts him in every way it can," she said.
"Since they have a major section of the leadership in their hands, they do everything they can to ensure their own brand of interests," Hashemi said.
Attacks against pro-Khatami media and
ministries have increased in recent months.
Low Oil Price Hit Iran Growth to March 99, Reuters, June 5
SWITZERLAND - Iran's economic growth slowed to between 1.7 and two percent in the year to March 1999 as oil prices slumped, Iran's central bank governor said on Saturday.
This reflected an "illness" in the oil-dependent economy, Governor Mohsen Nourbakhsh told Reuters in an interview.
The Islamic republic's real gross domestic product growth rate had already slowed to 2.5 percent in the year to March 1998 due to sagging oil prices and a fall in construction activity.
"This (GDP decline) is again another sign of the illness in our economy, that the price of oil is going to determine our growth," he said.
Nourbakhsh said Iran's foreign debt totaled about $13 billion at the end of March. He said the $13 billion represented those goods and services which had already been delivered, and included rescheduled debt of about $2.5 billion.
On top of that were about $9 billion in services and commodities which had not yet been delivered, he said.