Iran Government Officials

The Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri appealed to Iran's leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at least twice last year to stop thousands of executions, according to letters made public in Paris on Wednesday. The letters showed that Montazeri, whose resignation as Khomeini's apparent successor was announced Tuesday, feared that an implacable wave of official killings was turning people against the Islamic regime.

Parliament passed a bill Tuesday allowing Iran to arrest any American anywhere who offends it, and fanatics of the Revolutionary Guards whipped up fervor about the seizure of the U.S. Embassy 10 years ago. Iranian militants stormed the embassy Nov. 4, 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi said the bill approved by 150 members of the 270-seat Parliament responded to the "bullying nature" of the United States.

Britain on Thursday ordered the expulsion of 15 Iranian diplomats and said it is reducing its own diplomatic presence in Tehran to a single representative. "The one remaining (in Iran) will have a care-taking function only," a Foreign Office spokesman said. The decision, which the spokesman said "does not constitute a breach of diplomatic relations," leaves only one diplomat in charge of the Iranian Embassy in London.

Iran's leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, sat in silence Sunday while Iran's president read a broadcast speech on his behalf. There has been speculation that the 86-year-old patriarch is in poor health. In the address read by President Ali Khamenei, Khomeini made a strong appeal for unity and praised the armed forces. Iran has been at war with Iraq for 6 1/2 years. "The advice of our dear imam (Khomeini) . . . which he asked me to relay from his blessed tongue . . .