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NICOSIA - The Mojahedin said it launched a rocket attack on a garrison of Iranian troops Tuesday, inflicting "heavy casualties and damages," in retaliation for the recent wave of arrests in the country.
In a statement received by fax in Nicosia, the group said "six of the group's operational units in northern Khuzistan pounded this morning with multiple rocket launchers the strategic garrison of the army's southern command in Einkhosh."
The statement described the garrison as "the headquarters of a military security detachment dispatched from Tehran," saying the opposition group had struck at both the detachment from Tehran and two army battalions based in Einkhosh.
"Fuel and ammunition dumps of the army's sixth region were also destroyed," it said.
The attack "was in retaliation for the continuing wave of suppression and arrests ahead of presidential elections of the mullahs' illegitimate regime", the organization said.
The statement also said that amid the arrests, the operation should "serve as a warning to the mullahs and their suppressive agents and Revolutionary Guards," saying the arrests "were designed to consolidate the domination of mullahs' Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ahead of presidential elections", in June.
Earlier Tuesday, students at Tehran
University protested at the mass arrest of liberal dissidents, including
one of their professors, and called on President Mohammad Khatami to intervene.
Mojahedin's Fifth Operation in Retaliation For Recent Wave Of Arrests, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 10
At 8:00 p.m. today, Tuesday, April 10, Mojahedin's operational units in Tehran fired RPG-18 rockets at the command headquarters of the State Security Forces (SSF) in downtown Tehran's Youssef-Abad district, the Mojahedin Command inside Iran reported.
The attack this evening is the fifth operation by Mojahedin in retaliation for the recent wave of arrests and suppression in Tehran.
Youssef-Abad's security forces have been actively involved in the suppression of students and arrest and torture of Mojahedin and freedom-fighters.
The center had been one of the main
centers of the mullahs' suppressive Komitehs (urban Guards bases) since
the mullahs' rise to power.
US Says Arrests In Iran Signal "Deteriorating" Rights Situation, Agence France Presse, April 10
WASHINGTON - The United States said Monday that recent arrests of dozens of Iranian liberal opposition party members was evidence of a "deteriorating" human rights situation in the Islamic Republic.
"We do see a deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and these arrests in recent days actually underscore that view," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
He did not elaborate on the arrests
but said Washington would continued to urge Tehran to allow a visit from
the UN special representative on human rights for Iran and to permit him
to work freely.
NCR Hails EU Move on Tehran Ties, Reuters, April 10
BRUSSELS - Iran's main armed opposition group praised the European Union on Tuesday for dropping plans to discuss trade and economic cooperation with Tehran at a monthly meeting of foreign ministers.
The 15 ministers left relations with Tehran off their agenda at Monday's meeting in Luxembourg following a wave of arrests of dissidents ahead of Iran's June elections.
"The Iranian Resistance welcomes the EU foreign ministers' move as a necessary but insufficient step," said the National Council of Resistance of Iran in a statement faxed to Reuters.
"It is time for the EU to sever political and economic ties with the mullahs and recognize the legitimate right of the Iranian people to overthrow their religious dictatorship and establish the rule of democracy in Iran," it said.
In its statement, the National Council said: "The appeasement policy of the EU vis-a-vis the mullahs' regime, embodied in 'critical dialogue' and 'constructive engagement', have contributed significantly to the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, particularly during Khatami's presidency."
The EU has been divided about policy towards Iran, with some member states favoring more engagement with a potentially lucrative emerging market and others insisting first on improvements in human rights.
But EU diplomats have been dismayed by the latest wave of arrests.