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INTELLIGENCE MINISTER SAYS OPPOSITION UNDER SURVEILLANCE AND STUDENTS UNDER CONTROL.

Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) chief Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi told a 6 October gathering of Iran's Friday prayer leaders that the opposition is being watched and anything it does to threaten Iran's national security will fail, IRNA reported on 7 October. "The [MOIS] has full grip over the issues related to the national security of Iran and is fully aware of all moves and intrigues made by the antirevolutionary forces, which have been relatively intensified recently," he said. Yunesi claimed that Iran is the target of a "heavy psychological war" and the opposition is part of this. "The United States needs to heighten the level of that cold war against Iran currently in order to justify its broad presence in this part of the world," he added. After discussing the security organizations' activities in the run-up to the anticipated unrest of last July, he turned to the school year that has just begun. "We have started this academic year in a position of total control over the situation, and we will neutralize any kind of counterrevolutionary movement throughout the world," ISNA reported. (Bill Samii)

Source RFE/RL Iran Report Vol. 6, No. 41, 13 October 2003