DATE=11/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAN PLOT (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256540
BYLINE=RICHARD ENGEL
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Iranian officials say they have prevented an
assassination attempt on the nation's president and
other senior officials. Richard Engel reports from
our Middle East bureau that Iranian police blame
religious fanatics for the plot.
TEXT: Iran's official news agency reports Iranian
police arrested 34-members of a religious cult that
allegedly planned to assassinate Iranian President
Mohammed Khatami, former president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, and other officials.
Twenty of those arrested were later released.
The Iranian news agency says the assailants were led
by what it called -- a deviant cleric who claimed to
be acting on Islamic orders. Iranian police say the
cleric was attempting to establish a clandestine
militant group.
Police in Tehran say the group has in the past stolen
weapons and ammunition to finance and carry out armed
operations against the Iranian government.
An official Iranian statement said police succeeded in
foiling attempts by the group to establish weapons
depots and bomb-making factories and to plan the
assassinations of influential people.
Iranian officials say the group also had hoped to kill
Sunni Muslim preachers in an attempt to stir religious
discord between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Iranians
are predominantly Shiite Muslims. Most of the Arab
world follows the Sunni tradition of Islam.
Some Shiite hard-liners oppose Iran's improving
relations with the Arab world and the West, and have
tried to isolate Iran through acts of violence.
(SIGNED)
NEB/RHE/JWH/RAE
25-Nov-1999 13:21 PM EDT (25-Nov-1999 1821 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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