Piracy, Protests And Polemics

By George Russell

On land and sea, Khomeini's enemies abroad keep fighting

The bold act of piracy was as bizarre as it was successful. As three spanking new Iranian missile boats steamed leisurely in the Atlantic Ocean off the southern Spanish port of Cadiz last week, they were pursued by a slow-going Spanish tugboat. When the tug reached one of the French-built warships, about 15 raiders from the commercial vessel stormed aboard. They hauled down the flag of Iran's Islamic Republic and replaced it with the green, white and red banner, emblazoned with the imperial, sword-bearing lion of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The boarders heartily sang Iran's old imperial national anthem. As the action took place, a passing yacht radioed for Spanish help, which soon arrived. Then the two uncaptured boats headed under escort for the Spanish port of Algeciras, and later for Iran, while the hijacked ship turned toward Tangiers, making a successful escape.

In Paris, an Iranian exile group called the Azadegan (Free People) Organization claimed credit for the hijacking, which was aimed at keeping the new missile boats out of the hands of Iran's fundamentalist Islamic regime. The pirate force was led by Admiral Kamal Habibollahi, a former commander of the Shah's imperial navy. Habibollahi's military colleagues in the organization have equally imposing records: their leader is former Four-Star Iranian General Bahram Aryana, onetime chief of staff of the Iranian imperial armed forces. The organization wants to restore the old order in Iran, and possibly reinstall the Pahlavi dynasty, currently headed by the Shah's son Reza. The group's leader, General Aryana, reportedly left Paris three weeks ago in order to set up a clandestine military headquarters close to the Iranian-Turkish border.

If the loss of the gunboat infuriated the followers of the Ayatullah Khomeini (who charged that the CIA was behind the exploit), the deed may well have brought a few quiet smiles to the faces of French officials. They had finally granted delivery of the ships only days before fears arose over the safety of 106 French citizens, whose departure from Iran was delayed by Islamic extremists two weeks ago. As the Iranians had promised, the French nationals were returned home last week just before the strange hijacking. The French government quickly disclaimed any responsibility for the three warships after they were turned over to Iranian crews on Aug. 1 and left French waters.

What made the boatnapping particularly odd was the fact that the warships were armed with cannons and could easily have blown the attacking tug out of the water if their crews had wished. The speedy gunboats could also have outdistanced the pirates with ease. There was speculation that some members of the ships' crews were in collusion with the pirates--a sign of continuing unease among the Iranian military.

As the chaos grows at home, Iranian exile organizations of all political stripes are staging protests and demonstrations around the world. The spectrum of the organizations runs from monarchists like the Azadegan group, to centrists who support onetime Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar (currently in exile in France), to a branch of the Marxist-Leninist Fedayan-e Khalq guerrilla organization. Their common aim: to build international opposition to Khomeini.

In cities as widespread as Bonn, London, Washington, Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Stockholm, groups of Iranian demonstrators have been marching, going on hunger strikes and besieging Iranian diplomatic offices. Two weeks ago, dissidents briefly occupied the Iranian interests section of the Algerian embassy in Washington; as they dispersed, one demonstrator was shot in the back. In Bonn a group of 110 Iranian demonstrators attacked the strongly fortified Iranian embassy.

Other consulates in Hamburg and West Berlin have also been occupied and vandalized. In New York City, more than 200 Iranian students staged a six-day hunger strike in front of the U.N. building. In Paris, pro-and anti-Khomeini groups have clashed violently, using sticks, broken bottles, chains and knives against one another. The cry "Death to Khomeini" is becoming as familiar in world capitals as "Death to the Shah" once was.

The protests are mostly organized by overseas supporters of the Islamic socialist guerrilla organization called the Mujahedin-e Khalq. The well-armed force is the Khomeini regime's most dangerous foe in Iran. The increase in Mujahedin protests against the fundamentalist government began in June, when Khomeini dismissed Abolhassan Banisadr as Iran's President. The protesters got a further boost on July 29, when Banisadr and Mujahedin Leader Massoud Rajavi made a spectacular clandestine escape from Iran to a Paris sanctuary. Says one Mujahedin supporter, who is currently studying at the University of Texas: "This regime is doing the same things as the Shah did. They are just doing them under the cover of Islam. They are destroying Islam, and we will destroy them."

Last week the Mujahedin were also on the attack in Iran, killing four high-ranking fundamentalists, including Hassan Ayat, Khomeini's top theoretician and a member of parliament. In Tehran,

Mujahedin guerrillas launched their biggest daytime attack in weeks. Dressed as Islamic Revolutionary Guards and carrying an antitank rocket, they marched into the Guard headquarters and opened fire. Casualty figures were unreported, but ambulances were still moving wounded victims out of the building hours after the assault.

In response, the Islamic government launched another intensive roundup of suspected Mujahedin, reportedly picking up more than 350 during the week. The revolutionary firing squads once again were busy: more than 65 dissidents were executed in ten days. One person who was seized in recent weeks but not killed was none other than the grandson of Ayatullah Khomeini himself. Seyed Hussein Khomeini, 20, a theology student in the religious city of Qum, was seized after making a revolutionary speech at a mosque in which he declared that "the new dictatorship established in religious form is worse than that of the Shah and the Mongols." Others have been shot for saying less. The young Khomeini now lives under virtual house arrest. --By George Russell. Reported by Sandra Burton/Paris and David S. Jackson/Washington

Jackson/Washington

With reporting by Sandra Burton, David S. Jackson

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