NICOSIA - Tehran's armed opposition claimed Wednesday to have launched new mortar attacks on bases of government security forces in Ilam province, western Iran, inflicting casualties and damage.

In separate communiqués sent to AFP in Nicosia, the People's Mujahadeen said its forces had targeted two bases of the 16th Armored Division in the areas of Sarnay and Saleh-Abed, and one of the 23rd Special Forces Division at Dehloran.

The operations were named after Mujahedeen fighters killed in earlier attacks in the province bordering Iraq, the communiqués said, adding that in the past two months the opposition had attacked 33 "military centers of suppression" in different parts of Iran.
 

Mullahs Try to Excuse Top Officials' Role in Serial Murder Cases, State News Agency, IRNA, January 25

TEHRAN - Commenting on the recent film on last year's serial murders screened at the Majlis for members of the parliament, an MP from Mashhad, Khorassan province said that the confessions of the accused made clear the fact that former information minister was not guilty of any negligence in performing his duties.

In an interview with the English-language daily 'Iran News' published Tuesday, Hamid Reza Taraqi, added that Dorri Najafabadi accepted full responsibility for his ministry's handling of the affair but the film convinced the viewers that his ouster from the cabinet was due to pressure exerted by its backers.

The deputy maintained that in the film, the accused, Saeed Emami's wife and Musavi, confessed to their connections with foreign spy agencies but failed to explain the way they operated adding that the head of the armed forces' judicial organization hojjatoleslam Mohammad Niazi has indicated that more information has been discovered since the film was made.

However, Mohammad Baqer Musavi-Jahanabadi, MP representing Yasouj, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari province told 'Iran News' that the film in question was not shown in its entirety and did not contain any new information.

All the information in the film had already been published in newspapers, he stressed.

Another MP meanwhile said that "the film did not shed light on the case, it only added to the ambiguities surrounding it."
 

"Nothing New" About Tehran's "Ready to Negotiate" Statement, Agence France Press, January 24

WASHINGTON - The United States on Monday gave a lukewarm reaction to comments from Tehran that Iran is ready to step up diplomatic dialogue with the United States.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said there was "nothing new" in the remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi that Iran is "ready to negotiate" an end to the 20-year diplomatic freeze.

Another State Department source said: "The first step for developing relations is for the two governments to engage a dialogue on issues of concern for each other."

Speaking at a conference on Sunday, Kharazi ruled out the possibility raised by other officials that Washington might be allowed to open a consulate in a free zone on the Iranian Gulf island of Kish ahead of a full re-establishment of relations.

Washington has recently made a number of attempts to open talks with Tehran on three issues of concern: apparent terrorist support for the Iranian regime, Iran's opposition to the Middle East peace process, and its acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.
 

Israeli Dealer Implicated in Illegal Arms Export to Iran, Agence France Presse, January 24

TOKYO - An Israeli arms dealer has been implicated in the illegal export of RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launcher parts from Japan to Iran, a newspaper said here Monday.

The Japanese firm Sun Beam K.K., which allegedly exported the weapons, copied the sighting equipment from an Israeli model bought from an Israeli arms dealer, said Yomiuri Shimbun.

The two men -- Ichiro Takahashi, 63, and Tsuneo Ishida, 67 -- allegedly shipped 3,100 sighting lenses for the RPG-7s to Iran in April and December 1995, police and news reports said.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Takahashi paid several hundred dollars to the Israeli dealer for the sighting equipment in 1992 and then subcontracted a factory in Japan to produce modified versions.

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