The Mojahedin Command inside Iran announced that dozens of officers and agents of the mullahs' regime were killed or wounded in two days of fighting on July 29 and 30 between the Mojahedin's military units and special forces of the mullahs' 23rd Airborne Division south east of Dehloran.

Hassan Hosseini, Ali Binakhamoush and Majid Mohammadian have been identified among those killed, while Colonel Jamalifar, commander of the 172nd Battalion of the 23rd Division, and Hassan Ghorbani, Delbandi and Hosseinipour were among those wounded.

Hours after the clashes, ambulances were still evacuating the dead and the wounded from the battlefield, eye witnesses reported.
 

More Than Votes Count In Iran Reform Bid, Reuters, August 1

TEHRAN - The leader of Iran's biggest pro-Khatami faction says his bloc enjoys a comfortable majority in the new parliament but its agenda for change faces serious institutional and political obstacles.

"In Iran, being a majority does not necessarily bring power," Mohammad Reza Khatami said in an interview with Reuters late on Monday.

"If we wish to reform everything overnight, then undoubtedly our wishes will not come true." he said.

"Parliament has limited powers. We guessed that the press law would face problems in the Guardian Council, and we do not expect the Expediency Council to resolve this in our favor.

The Front and its allies must contend with more than institutional barriers. They also face opposition from prominent theologians, special interest groups and elements of the security services.

Adding to the reformers' caution is the next presidential election expected in late May.

At the same time, they are mindful that millions of voters are demanding change.
 

Another Newspaper Banned, Reuters, August 1

TEHRAN - An Iranian revolutionary court has banned a provincial newspaper which had tried to shed light on alleged corruption and mismanagement in the Islamic republic, the former daily said in a fax on Tuesday.

Ruzdara, the only independent newspaper in Sistan- Baluchestan, a poverty-stricken province in southeastern Iran, was forced to stop publishing last Thursday by a court decree.

"The current style of (economic) administration has led to sycophancy and no competent manager is willing to come forward under the present criteria," reads another excerpt.
 

"Nobody But Khatami Has Helped The Right Faction To Survive", IRNA (State News Agency), August 1

Tehran - Commenting on President Khatami's announcement for his reelection bid in the next presidential elections, Abbas Abdi… said that with this announcement, Khatami has given a firm reply to the "poisoned propaganda" that his "opponents'' had created for him.

In an exclusive interview with the English-language daily Iran News published Tuesday, Abdi who is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) said that Khatami's announcement cannot be however taken or construed as his embarking on any election campaign.

He stressed, the fact is that "nobody else has helped the right faction survive more than Khatami and they know it only too well.''

Abdi added: "The clergy should be at the helm of reformation, since reforms are only plausible and feasible when they are initiated within the power structure itself and the closest people to the power structure are the clergy.''
 

Editor Sentenced To Four Months In Jail Iran, Agence France Presse, August 1

TEHRAN - Tehran's press court sentenced the publisher of the banned daily Arya to a four-month jail term and a ban on further press activities, newspapers reported Tuesday.

Hamid Reza Zohdi was found guilty of "provoking public opinion, publishing malicious lies, insulting the state, eroding the regime of the Islamic Republic and (printing) anti-state propaganda."

Zohdi's family told AFP that the court had not yet formally notified him of the verdict but expected it to do so by the end of the week.

In addition to the jail term, the court also ordered a cash fine and the revocation of Zohdi's publication licence, papers said.

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