From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Subject: Iran says clashes may break out with Iraq over rebel group
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 18:57:42 GMT


Reposted from soc.culture.iranian (thanks to Amir Taghavi):

        ATHENS, Greece (UPI) -- Iran warned Tuesday that fighting may erupt
with Iraq because of Baghdad's support of Iranian rebels and asked the
U.N. Security Council to take up the matter, Tehran radio said.
        The warning came two days after Iranian warplanes crossed into Iraqi
territory to bomb a training camp of Iranian rebels calling themselves
the Mojahedin Khalq, or People's Holy Warriors.
        A commentary broadcast on Tehran radio said Iraq was ``giving illegal
support'' to the Mojahedin Khalq Organization and its actions were
contrary to U.N. Security Council Resolution 598, under which the two
countries ended their eight-year war in 1988.
        The state radio, monitored in Athens, said the presence of the
Iranian rebel group on Iraqi soil, from where it allegedly attacked two
border villages in Iraq last week, posed a threat to peace, and the
Security Council should consider the matter.
        It said the Security Council also should discuss attacks by Mojahedin
Khalq supporters on Iranian embassies in Europe and North America,
although Iran has taken up the matter bilaterally with the host
countries where the attacks occurred.
        At U.N. headquarters in New York Monday, Iranian Ambassador Kamal
Kharazi handed a letter to the Security Council president saying the
Iranian attack inside Iraqi territory Sunday was an act of self-defense.
        The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Kharazi as
saying four people were killed in a Mojahedin attack on two border
villages in Iran Saturday, seven wounded and several kidnapped.
        Kharazi said Iran's retaliatory attack on a Mojahedin base near
Khalis north of Baghdad was in keeping with the U.N. charter. Tehran
``took necessary and proportionate measures in exercise of its
legitimate right of self-defense,'' he said.
        At least eight Iranian F-4 Phantoms crossed the border into Iraq
Sunday to attack the Mojahedin base. One Iranian warplane was shot down
during the attack and two crewmen were captured.
        ``Kharazi made it clear that Tehran has communicated with Baghdad
that Iraq bears full responsibility for the wellbeing and immediate
return'' of the captured air force officers.
        Sunday, a Mojahedin Khalq spokesman denied the group attacked a
border village inside Iran, but said the rebels were training for ``a
last and final assault'' on Iran in a bid to topple the country's ruling
clerics.
        The Mojahedin Khalq set up a rebel force called the National
Liberation Army of Iran on Iraqi soil after the group's leader Massoud
Rajavi moved to Baghdad in 1986.
        Monday, Baghdad radio said Iraq would resume its air patrols along
the border with Iran to prevent future incursions by Iranian military
aircraft.
        The two countries signed a cease-fire agreement in 1988 to end their
eight-year war and resumed diplomatic relations in 1990, as U.S.-led
coalition forces were preparing to push Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
        Iran benefitted from the detente when Iraq flew some of its warplanes
into Iranian territory for safekeeping during the 1991 Gulf War. Iran
still has the warplanes.
        But the detente was short-lived and relations deteriorated again when
Iranian clerics supported a Shi'ite uprising near Basra in March 1991
after the Gulf War ended.
        Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has kept the Mojahedin Khalq rebel
army on leash since the 1980-88 war ended but regional analysts believe
he may unleash it if Iran continues to support Shi'ite rebels in the
marshes north of Basra.
        An Iraqi rebel organization called the Supreme Assembly of the Iraqi
Revolution is based in Tehran and reportedly trains Iraqi rebels on
Iranian soil.


Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast