The clerical regime's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, warned Iranian students not to fall "into the trap of political parties and groups." Revealing the mullahs' fears of widespread student protests, Khamenei told students "to be fully on alert about this dangerous pest."

Khamenei also warned that "evil, power-seeking political elements and groups with a bad record are trying to infiltrate the student movement" and emphasized the role of the regime's agents in "countering the infiltration of (the Mojahedin) and their movement in universities." He told students to "refrain from accepting any speech or slogan without thinking about it."
 

MULLAHS' FACTION THREATENS OF MORE MURDERS, REUTERS, NOVEMBER 22

TEHRAN - Members of a shadowy Iranian group have threatened to resume their campaign of violence, including the murder of dissidents, the daily Khordad reported on Monday.

The group, the Devotees of Pure Mohammedan Islam, demanded in a letter hand-delivered to the newspaper that Khatami acknowledge that one of their mentors was tortured while in custody and then murdered.  "Very soon you will be witness to another example of God's decree being carried out at the hands of the sons of pure Islam," Khordad quoted the letter as saying.
Last week, authorities blamed the same group for a bomb blast near the Shi'ite holy shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad, which killed two people.

The government also acknowledged the Devotees' hands behind last year's mystery murders of dissidents, which it says were master-minded by former deputy intelligence minister Saeed Emami.

The Devotees of Pure Mohammadan Islam warned that if Khatami failed to acknowledge publicly that Emami, one of their mentors, had been tortured, they would publish documents on the internet "proving" his maltreatment.
 

KHAMENEI BACKS CLERGY COURT, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, NOVEMBER 22

TEHRAN - ...[Mullahs'] supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Monday defended a clergy court which has been trying one of Khatami's close allies.

Khamenei, who is officially neutral but viewed by conservatives as one of them, said all Iranians should follow the line of the Islamic republic's founder, his predecessor Khomeini.

He backed the Special Court for Clergy, which is due to pass judgment soon on former vice president Abdollah Nuri after trying him for publishing anti-Islamic propaganda in his newspaper Khordad.

"People who are tried by this court have no right to do what they like, "Khamenei said. "Since both judge and accused are members of the clergy they can understand each other."
 

TEHRAN SOLD SCUDS TO CONGOLESE, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 22

Iran sold Scud missiles to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month in the first export of its homemade versions of the widely used short-range missile, The Washington Times has learned.

Iranian Scud B and Scud C missile systems were detected by U.S. spy agencies over the past several weeks.

... The sales highlight the spread of missile systems to central Africa for the first time as well, said Clinton administration officials familiar with the reports.

Iranian military officers currently are in Kinshasa, the capital of what was formerly known as Zaire, as part of a delegation of technicians that arrived in the country last month to assemble the missile systems, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity....

Iranian missile exports to Africa also are raising new fears among Pentagon officials that Iran could export its 700-mile range Shahab-3 missile, which was tested for the first time last year. "That's a major concern," said one official....

Iran is developing two medium-range missiles known as the Shahab-3 and Shahab-4, and also is believed to be working on an intercontinental ballistic missile dubbed Shahab-5....
 

LEADER SAYS IRAN REJECTS POSTING OF U.S. OFFICIALS, REUTERS, NOVEMBER 22

TEHRAN - Iran has rejected U.S. proposals to base American officials in Tehran at an office looking after U.S. interests, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday.

"In reality they want to set up an intelligence and political site in the center of Tehran," Khamenei added, without saying when the U.S. proposal was made.
 

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