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)
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Source: Voice of America
.