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A mechanized force estimated at between two and three thousandIranian Revolutionary Guards combat troops thrust into Northern IraqFriday evening, July 26, in a search and destroy mission againstIranian Kurdish dissidents.
Some two hundred Iranian military vehicles, including lightarmored vehicles, troops transports, trucks, artillery, and rocketlaunchers were seen crossing over from Iran at Marivan-Penjuin andmoving toward the Iraqi Kurdish town of Sulaymaniah, Iranian andIraqi Kurdish sources reported.
The attack force initially moved toward bases controlled by theKurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), which has used Iraq as asafe haven for armed attacks against Iranian military targets in thepast. KDPI sources say they had been warned of the impending attacksfor several weeks, but that the Sulaymaniah bases remainedvulnerable.
After receiving an escort from Iraqi Kurds loyal to JalalTalabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Rev. Guardsassault force launched a full scale assault against Iranian Kurdishrefugee camps and military bases on Saturday morning, using katyusharocket launchers and artillery. Part of the Iranian assault forcemoved 60 kilometers further westward inside Iraq toward the mainheadquarters of the KDPI at Koy-Sandjak. The KDPI was believed tohave more troops at Koy than the attackers.
"We have faced this type of attack before," a KDPI spokesman inWashington said, "and have always managed to repulse them."
The Sulaymaniah region in northern Iraq is controlled by the IraqiKurds loyal to PUK leader Jalal Talabani. In the past, Talabani hasbeen friendly toward the KDPI, but over the past 18 months he hasmoved increasingly closer to Tehran because of his ongoing battlewith rival Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. "Our real concern isthat this attack could lead to a deterioration of our relations withthe PUK," the KDPI spokesman said.
The U.S. State Department was informed of the cross-border attackas it was occurring, and said it was "monitoring" the situation.However, the U.S. was "not fueling the jets" for any form of militaryresponse, officials said on Monday morning.
Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, the leader of the KurdishDemocratic Party and fierce rival to Talabani, issued a statement onJuly 28 calling Talabani's support for the Rev. Guards operation"tantamount to a disgraceful national betrayal." The statementclaimed the PUK "led the Iranian force through 200 km's of territoryaway from the Iranian border and guided them to attack the IranianKurdish refugees." However, when the Rev. Guards troops attackingKoy-Sanjak withdrew, they were escorted by KDP forces.
For its part, the PUK has acknowledged its acquiescence to theIranian incursion, saying its forces were powerless to prevent it.Tehran closed the border between Iran and the PUK-controlled areas onJuly 1 in response to armed incursions by the KDPI in June, and hadbeen pressuring the PUK to "secure" the region to prevent furtherincursions by KDPI guerrillas.
Tehran claimed on Monday that its troops had killed some 20"counter-revolutionaries and bandits" during the cross-border attack.Privately, Iranian officials have been presenting their action ascomparable to Turkey's "hot pursuit" of PKK rebels across bordersinto Iraq and Iran.
Several thousand Iranian Kurdish refugees living in the areas ofthe fighting were displaced, UNHCR sources reported, while severalhundred homes were destroyed by the Rev. Guards artillery.[Iranfax 7/27; IRNA 7/29]
Iran dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Alaeddin Boroujerdi toTurkey on July 19, on a mission intended to calm tempers overallegations of cross-border skirmishes between the two countries.
After the talks, Turkey's new Islamist Prime Minister NecmettinErbakan was reassuring. "We can sort things out through politicalwill."
Two days earlier, President Soleyman Demirel expressed concernover attacks by PKK guerrillas on Turkish positions from across theborder in Iran, and warned neighboring states not to provide safehaven to terrorists. Five Turkish soldiers had been killed duringsuch an attack the week before, after a serious of such incidents inJune. Turkey's helicopter attack on an Iranian village on June 26 isnow being painted as a case of "hot pursuit" against PKK guerrillas.[Reuter, 7/19]
Several thousand Iranian Kurds who have taken refuge inside Iraqhave submitted a petition to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad to gohome, according to reports from Baghdad. The Kurds had previouslysought resettlement in other countries, but were said to have givenup hope of success.
An estimated 23,000 Iranian Kurds are living in the al-Tashrefugee camp, 100 miles west of Baghdad, under the supervision of theUNHCR. Another 6,000 Iranian Kurdish refugees are living in northernIraq. [Reuter 7/25]
The Law Enforcement Forces have arrested members of six gangsspecialized in armed robbery, who had been plundering private housesin the city of Karaj. According to Jomhouri-e Eslami, the gangsforced entry into private homes and stole valuable carpets, cameras,VCRs, and automobiles. [Jomhouri-e Eslami 7/20]
In a separate incident, two "drug smugglers" were killed and sevenothers arrested in the province of Khorassan last week.. The killingsand drug seizures were part of the "Fajr-3" operation launched on theoccasion of Law Enforcement Week in the cities of Torbat-e Jam,Taibad, and Khowaf, IRNA reported. The authorities also seizedsemi-automatic machine guns and RPG-7 anti-tank rockets from thealleged drug-smugglers. [IRNA, 7/24]
To read the official press, one would conclude Iran is in a stateof insurrection, with heavily-armed drug dealers battling police inborder provinces in the east and west of the country. By an oddcoincidence, many of the areas where these skirmishes take place alsohappen to be the focus of armed opposition activity.
Last week Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati said that Irannow plans to build a special prison for narcotics offenders, to keepthem sealed off from society. As we have reported in previousNewswires, Iran has boasted of having executed more than 4,000 drugtraffickers since 1989 and recently claimed there are more than12,500 foreign drug smugglers in the Iranian jails. [Jomhouri-eEslami, 7/24].
Although the Islamic Republic did not wait for the new "Islamiccode" to go into effect to execute persons accused of serious crimes,they have announced since the Code became law on July 10 that crueland unusual punishments, including execution, dismemberment, andwhipping, will be stepped up.
Three men were hanged at dawn in Tehran's Qasr prison on July 21on murder charges, Iran Daily reported. The three were identified asAli Naqie, 41, Mohammad Golabi, 33 and Akbar Esmaili, 28. They weresaid to have committed separate crimes. [Iran Daily7/22].
Ettelaat reported on Thursday that a court had handed down nofewer than five death sentences against a single person, identifiedas Mirza Qoli, for having burned a wife to death after she refused toallow him to take a third wife [7/24]
Four other persons were condemned to death, also on Thursday, fordrug trafficking, murder, and for "having engaged in armed clasheswith police," Kayhan reported. [7/24].
Under the new laws, a thief would lose four fingers of his righthand for a first offense, and his toes for a second theft. A thirdtime would result in life imprisonment, according toProsecutor-General Morteza Moqtadaie. Anyone convicted of usury wouldget 74 lashes and go to jail for up to three years, he added. Rapeand adultery are punishable by death.
Significantly, in his explanation of the new punishments,Moqtadaie asserted that the laws were intended to "fully guaranteethe security of the country." [Jomhouri-e Eslami, 7/24]
An Islamic revolutionary court last week sentenced to death threemen for espionage and economic sabotage during the 1980-1988Iran-Iraq war, and ordered deadly lashings for three others, Tehranradio reported.
Hedayatollah Zendehdel, a Jewish businessman who converted toIslam, was condemned to death for economic fraud and for passingclassified military information to "enemies."
The court also sentenced to death former air force officerAbdolreza Yazdanshenas and businessman Abolqassem Majd-Abkahi onsimilar charges and ordered the three to receive 170 lashes beforeexecution.
When the three first went on trial in January they were accused ofhaving contacts with Israel and the Central Intelligence Agency, andof establishing major network set up during the war to defraud statebanks and sabotage the economy.
Two others received potentially mortal sentences for relatedactivities. Former royal guards member Ali Sadafiyan was condemned to23 years in prison and 200 lashes, while television actor FereidounAbuzia received a sentence of 10 years and 110 lashes. AbdolghafourSartipi, a businessman charged with using his ties to Iran's formerroyal family for fraud, was jailed for seven years, the radioadded.
The six men were charged at their trial with setting up severalcompanies as fronts for their operations which included defraudingbanks of large sums, bribing officials with money or women andhelping people leave Iran illegally. [Tehran Radio 7/23; Reuter7/23]
Iran's Supreme Court has approved the death penalty for an Iranianjournalist named Kourosh Nikakhtar, after a revolutionary courtconvicted him for a 1994 assassination attempt against PresidentRafsanjani.
Nikakhtar was arrested after he allegedly fired several shots froma distance of around 60 meters in Rafsanjani's direction while theIslamic Republic president was addressing a rally at AyatollahKhomeini's mausoleum shrine.
The authorities arrested 20 other persons in what they alleged wasa plot to assassinate Rafsanjani and other Iranian leaders. The headof the Tehran Islamic revolutionary court, Gholamhossein Rahbarpour,said the court had passed a three-year jail sentence against MohsenSalsali for involvement in the plot, and had condemned to death asecond man, Mohammad Mousavinia. The second death sentence was stillunder review.
The authorities blamed the plot on leftist opposition groups andforeign powers including Israel and the United States, Kayhanreported. [Kayhan, IRNA, 7/23]
The People's Mujahidin have claimed that a member of theirorganization identified as Merhdad Kalani, aged 35, was executed onJune 22 in Tehran's Evin prison. The group said it had received aletter from Kalani in March that had been smuggled out of his prison,saying he had been condemned to death in a secret trial lasting 20minutes. In the letter, Kalani reportedly named 11 other politicalprisoners who he said had been secretly executed in the prison, astatement from the Mujahidin's umbrella organization said. [IranZamin, 7/22]
The Mujahidin have also claimed that an Iranian sympathizer,Peyman Salehi, was arrested upon his arrival at Tehran's Mehrebadairport on July 19, despite his attempt to seek political asylum inHolland. A Dutch court had acquiesced to a request from the Iranianauthorities to extradite Salehi to Iran, apparently on criminalcharges. [Iran Zamin 7/21]
40,000 troops from the Basij and Rev. Guards began maneuversinside the city limits of Tabriz on July 25, as part of a nation-wideanti-riot control training program. The two-phase maneuver wasintended to enhance the combat readiness of the participating forces,IRNA quoted a commander of the 31st Ashura Mechanized division assaying. The Chinese news agency quoted "observers" in Tehran asspeculating the war games might be used to heighten Iran's militaryalert to a "potential military threat" from the Israeli air Force,following the Israeli-Turkish security pact.
A German weekly has published a report, based it claims on aclassified assessment by the German Federal Intelligence Agency, BND,warning that the Islamic Republic may engage in "nuclear terrorism."The BND assessment details Iranian efforts to purchase nuclearmaterials on the black market, as well as dual-use equipment fromGermany companies, and warns of the extent and "professionalism" ofthe international black market in stolen nuclear materials. (Thereis) scarcely a doubt remaining that Iran is interested in buyingnuclear materials," the magazine said, quoting the BND report."(Tehran) is interested with utmost certainty in fissionable materialon the black market."
The BND had been aware of 169 cases of purchases of nuclearmaterials on the black market last year. In 1994 it had been aware of124, Focus said. [Focus, 7/22]
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private,non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland.Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director (exec@iran.org).FDI materials, including this Newswire, are available free-of-chargevia the Internet at http://www.iran.org/.