1) Information on monarchist group called AGHRAB (Scorpion) under leadership of Gen. Ehsan Ollah Pezeshkpur and Lt. Lader Louyi, and Col. Nik Bagheri: is this an "armed" group? What is their involvement in the Nojeh coup d'état shortly after '79 revolution? What is their involvement with Kurdistan? 2) Does AGHRAB become DERAFESH after the coup? Most of its members are in Turkey and led by President Dr. Mansour Shokrayi in late 1970s-early 1980s.3) Demonstrations in front of Iranian Embassy in Istanbul in 1980 by students and other anti-regime persons; 4) Does DERAFESH become NAMARA (or Revolutionary Liberation Army of Iran) 1980-1984 under Gen. Pezeshkpur, operating from Turkey with office in Paris. [IRN5428]

1)

Information about a monarchist group or any group named AGHRAB could not be found among the sources currently available to the IRB Documentation Centre. However, attached please find an excerpt taken from Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987), pp. 153157, which describes the Nojeh (spelled Nouzheh in the Hiro text) coup attempt in July 1980.

The text says that the coup attempt was masterminded by Shahpour Bakhtiar and General Oveissi along with two former generals (p. 156), while both Bakhtiar and Oveissi were exiled in Paris (p. 155). The excerpt mentions the name of Major General Amir Bahman Bagheri as the commander of the air force at the time (p. 155), however the other names do not appear anywhere in
Hiro's book. Bagheri was found to be part of a network of royalist officers and was arrested in June 1980 (p. 155). The Khomeini government in order to rid the military of its disloyal members, executed approximately 108 military officers and purged close to 4,500 personnel in July and August 1980 (p. 156).
2), 4)

Information regarding DERAFESH was sent to you separately on 30 April 1990 under information request number irn4747. No further information has been found among the sources currently available to the IRB Documentation Centre.
3)

No information regarding an anti-Iranian demonstration in Istanbul in 1980 could be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.