According to reports in some state-controlled newspapers last Sunday, one of the deputies of Khatami has claimed that the mullahs' president has shut down all commercial activities of the regime's secret services.

This is an explicit admission to the long involvement of regime's Intelligence Ministry in commercial activities carried out under different guise.

Commenting on this Agence France Presse said: "According to economic sources in Tehran, the Iranian secret services established private-sector business about a dozen years ago and have been at the heart of important foreign trade, particularly with Europe.
 

Life Threatening Pollution in Tehran, Agence France Presse, December 20

TEHRAN - Old people and children, and people with heart conditions, were advised Monday not to venture out into Tehran's smog-filled streets as pollution levels rose, the official IRAN news agency reported.

The number of people turning up in hospitals in central Tehran complaining of breathing difficulties has sharply increased over the past two days.
 

State-Run TV, December 20 - Iran… supports the efforts of Syria aimed at restoring the Golan as part of the occupied territories, unless it is proved that Damascus too has been fooled by the mirage that Zionist deceivers have used for years to deceive the homeless Palestinians.

Sobh-e Emrouz, December 21 - Davoud Soleimani, former deputy chancellor of Tehran University, said: "The case of those involved in the dormitory attack has not been clarified except for that of Farhad Nazari, former Tehran police commander… …Other culprits, including pressure groups and forces with plain clothes have not yet been dealt with."

Asr-e Azadegan, December 20 - Movahedi Savoji, head of the parliamentary committee which investigates serial murders, said: "Investigations would be resumed this week and all the existing reports and evidence would be re-examined… ..The issue of Emami's death should also be reviewed; it should be clarified whether he has committed suicide or not ?.."
 

Commentary

Thirty months into Khatami's presidency, the myth of "change" in Iran is evaporating in the West, as senior government officials are increasingly acknowledging the fact that the status quo continues in Iran.

The Washington Post wrote in an article on December 4: "More than two years after the election of a new Iranian president raised hopes of a thaw between Washington and Tehran, the Clinton administration has reluctantly concluded that Iran is increasing the flow of arms and money to terrorist groups in an effort to thwart the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace process", and "has stepped up shipments of guns and explosive to the opponents of the peace process."

Quoting U.S. officials who are alarmed by the mullah's efforts, the Post wrote that the Europeans also shared such concern. The Post added that according to two State Department officials, there was an antiterrorist meeting in Berlin last November where the U.S. emissary entered with a briefcase full of intelligence documents to inform the allies in Europe of the growing threat posed by the Iranian regime. " British and German counter-terrorism officials gave presentations on Iran that were at least as incriminating as the American briefing," the Post wrote.

The article noted:" The growing body of evidence against Iran is a source of disappointment among Clinton administration officials who has hoped for a new beginning in U.S.-Iranian relations after the May 1997 election of Mohammad Khatami. 'Iranian support for the violent opponents of the peace process has not slackened in the last couple of months it has intensified,' said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity."

A New York Times article on December 3 quoted "American intelligence officials" as saying that "they obtained the most convincing information yet that Iranian officials may have been behind the attack [on the U.S. compound in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, in 1996]."

The Associated Press reported on December 3: "After months of probing for a dialogue, the Clinton administration is losing its patience with Iran. The United States is accusing Iran of reneging on promises to abandon support for terrorism..."

As Iranian Resistance has stated repeatedly… the wrong-headed policy appeasing the mullahs has only encouraged them to expand further terrorism and step up violation of human rights.
 

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