Iran fighting rages on

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 8

Iran fighting rages on

NZPA-Reuter Teheran] Fighting continues to rage! in the north-western Iranian i border town of Naghadeh ll despite a day of peace moves by religious and Gov- , eminent leaders, the State] television has reported. It said several people had : been killed and that Iranian 1 troops were poised to enter the town, near the Turkish : and Iraqi border, if fighting i did not cease. The street battles in theli small ■ town, population 11 40,000, poses delicate prob-I lems for the central provis-1

lional Government in TeheI ran. The troubles mainly inI volve the ethnic minorities, the Kurds and the Iranians of Turkish origin. The State radio and television gave no casualty fig[ures but Teheran news- ! papers reported that up to 70 people had been killed since the fighting flared on Friday. Meanwhile, in a significant political development in the capital, Dr Ibrahim [Yazdi, a controversial forjmer aide of the religious; [leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah' Khomeiny, has apparently] become the effective head of]

■lthe Foreign Ministry. The i Prime Minister (Dr Mehdi , i Bazargan) has taken over :lthe Foreign Ministry port|folio with Dr Yazdi as his ■ deputy, but official an- ■ nouncements made it clear Dr Yazdi will run the Minis- • try. ! Dr Karin Sanjabi resigned i as Foreign Minister six days ago in protest against what he termed abuses of power in post-revolutionary Iran. Dr Yazdi and Sadegh Ghotbzadeh were Ayatollah j Khomeiny’s leading aides in ’exile and often spoke to the (world press on his behalf in : | Paris before the revolution.