Espionage Iran

Premier Jacques Chirac of France faced bitter condemnation from Britain and growing suspicion within France on Tuesday over his deal with Iran for the release of two French hostages in Lebanon. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, commenting on the French concessions that brought the two hostages home, told the House of Commons in London that "treating with terrorists only leads to more kidnapings and more violence." "That is the way we will not do it," she went on.

A U.S. Immigration Court judge continues to ponder the fate of an Iraqi doctor who has challenged government allegations that he might be a spy for a Middle Eastern power. Judge D.D. Sitgraves is reviewing more than two weeks of testimony and numerous documents to determine whether Dr. Ali Yasim Mohammad Karim, 37, is a threat to national security and should be excluded from the United States.

U.S. warships and demolition teams destroyed an Iranian oil platform in the Persian Gulf on Monday in retaliation for Iran's missile attack last week against a U.S.-registered oil tanker in Kuwait. Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger told reporters in Washington that there was no return fire from the platform, which the Pentagon said was being used as a "military observation and communications post and a radar surface search facility."

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi gave indirect assurances Friday that his country will not execute 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for the United States and Israel. Kharrazi, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, told reporters that the Iranian judiciary has pledged a fair trial for all those accused of espionage, who include Iranian Muslims as well as the 13 Jews.

President Reagan, in choosing to attack a purely military target far from Iranian territory to retaliate for an Iranian missile attack on a U.S.-registered tanker last week, was seeking a response designed to appease both critics and supporters of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf, government officials and independent analysts said Monday.

It was almost a perfect crime. Three well-dressed men walked into the suburban compound of Iranian exile Shahpour Bakhtiar in broad daylight, passed through X-rays and metal detectors manned by 24-hour police guards, slit his throat and disappeared. At first, it appeared to be a brilliantly plotted conspiracy, aided by luck. Then came the mistakes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi gave indirect assurances Friday that his country will not execute 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for the United States and Israel. Kharrazi, in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, told reporters that the Iranian judiciary has pledged a fair trial for all those accused of espionage, who include Iranian Muslims as well as the 13 Jews.

Egyptian authorities arrested an alleged Iranian intelligence agent and accused him of trying to establish an anti-government group in a plot to "export the Iranian revolution," the state-controlled press reported. Cairo newspapers said the agent, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, was directed by an Iranian diplomat identified as Mahmoud Mohtadi. The former Iranian charge d'affaires in Cairo, Mohtadi was expelled last May for "actions that violated the rules of diplomatic custom."

A U.S. Immigration Court judge continues to ponder the fate of an Iraqi doctor who has challenged government allegations that he might be a spy for a Middle Eastern power. Judge D.D. Sitgraves is reviewing more than two weeks of testimony and numerous documents to determine whether Dr. Ali Yasim Mohammad Karim, 37, is a threat to national security and should be excluded from the United States.

An Iranian who masterminded a scheme to smuggle sophisticated U.S. military hardware to his homeland was sentenced to three years in federal prison. The relatively light sentence handed to Saeid Asefi Inanlou by U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen stunned courtroom observers, especially because prosecutors labeled the crime a serious breach of national security.

Iranian intelligence agents were conducting intensive surveillance of American military personnel and facilities in Saudi Arabia at least a year before the bombing of a U.S. military housing complex there killed 19 Air Force personnel in June 1996, according to U.S. officials.

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic has strenuously denied that a former Bosnian government official with close ties to Iran has taken on an unofficial intelligence role for Bosnia. In response to an article last Thursday in The Times, a spokesman for Izetbegovic issued a statement denying that Hasan Cengic, Bosnia's former deputy defense minister, is setting up an underground intelligence network heavily influenced by Iran.

In an unusual lifting of the veil of secrecy surrounding espionage cases, the Israeli government confirmed Tuesday that it arrested an Israeli clothing merchant suspected of spying for Iran and has held him in jail for at least two months. The suspect, Herzl Rad, 29, was charged in secret proceedings June 8 with espionage, initiating contact with foreign agents and helping an enemy in time of war.

From that first meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, when recruiting agents offered him $600,000 and a new house in Tehran, Fariborz Karimi seemed a most unlikely assassin. The Iranian agents asked him to kill a man who was his mentor and surrogate father. But it was precisely that close relationship that so attracted the Iranian secret service agents.

It was almost a perfect crime. Three well-dressed men walked into the suburban compound of Iranian exile Shahpour Bakhtiar in broad daylight, passed through X-rays and metal detectors manned by 24-hour police guards, slit his throat and disappeared. At first, it appeared to be a brilliantly plotted conspiracy, aided by luck. Then came the mistakes.

An Iranian who masterminded a scheme to smuggle sophisticated U.S. military hardware to his homeland was sentenced to three years in federal prison. The relatively light sentence handed to Saeid Asefi Inanlou by U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen stunned courtroom observers, especially because prosecutors labeled the crime a serious breach of national security.

President Reagan, calling the Navy attack on an Iranian offshore oil platform "a prudent yet restrained response" to the missile strike on a U.S.-flagged tanker last week, warned the Tehran regime Monday that the United States will not tolerate "unprovoked attacks" in the Persian Gulf.

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic has strenuously denied that a former Bosnian government official with close ties to Iran has taken on an unofficial intelligence role for Bosnia. In response to an article last Thursday in The Times, a spokesman for Izetbegovic issued a statement denying that Hasan Cengic, Bosnia's former deputy defense minister, is setting up an underground intelligence network heavily influenced by Iran.

Egyptian authorities arrested an alleged Iranian intelligence agent and accused him of trying to establish an anti-government group in a plot to "export the Iranian revolution," the state-controlled press reported. Cairo newspapers said the agent, whose name and nationality were not disclosed, was directed by an Iranian diplomat identified as Mahmoud Mohtadi. The former Iranian charge d'affaires in Cairo, Mohtadi was expelled last May for "actions that violated the rules of diplomatic custom."

Premier Jacques Chirac of France faced bitter condemnation from Britain and growing suspicion within France on Tuesday over his deal with Iran for the release of two French hostages in Lebanon. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, commenting on the French concessions that brought the two hostages home, told the House of Commons in London that "treating with terrorists only leads to more kidnapings and more violence." "That is the way we will not do it," she went on.