This suppressive exercise and the astronomical exaggeration of the number of forces involved aim to cover up the current feuding and crisis engulfing the regime due to the escalation of the power struggle among rival factions.
The mullahs are also trying to terrorize and intimidate an increasingly restive public and to thwart growing popular uprisings. The increase in the operations of the Mojahedin inside Iran and the public's widespread support for the Iranian Resistance have gravely alarmed the mullahs.
This year, the regime has staged scores of suppressive maneuvers in Tehran and other cities to the same end and at the same time disseminated false figures about their size. For example, whereas the mullahs claimed that 200,000 had taken part in its largest-ever military exercise, the so-called Zolfaqar, last September, information from within the clerical regime indicated that the total number of forces involved did not exceed 50,000.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance - Paris
November 12, 1997
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