Please find attached a number of documents which refer to the above-named movement. Some of the information found in these documents can also be found in the French-language Response to Information Request IRN0136, available through the Refinfo database at your Regional Documentation Centre. Please note that some documents use different spelling for a given name. Mr. Bakhtiar's name, for example, is spelled Shapour, Shahpour, Shahpur and Chapour. For consistency, only one spelling will be used for each name in the following paragraphs.

According to some of the attached documents, the National Resistance Movement was founded in Paris in August 1980 by Shahpour Bakhtiar. Some recent articles mention August 1981 as the founding date. Bakhtiar was the last Prime Minister under the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, before the 1979 revolution in Iran. One source describes him as a former supporter of Dr. Mossadeq, the Iranian Prime Minister overthrown in 1953, and as a leading member of the National Front and an outspoken critic of the Shah (Degenhardt 1988, 167). A 1989 publication states the following:
The old and much respected National Front group, in general operating without armed guerrilla backing, reconstituted itself both in exile in Paris under Shahpour Bakhtiar and, in rather different form, as the Freedom Movement in Iran under Dr. Bazargan (Iran Country Profile 1989-1990, 5).

One of the documents states that Bakhtiar arrived in Paris in January 1980 and published his program for establishing a social-democrat regime in Iran (Steiner 1987, 50). In July of the same year, followers of Bakhtiar claimed to have been behind an attempted rebellion which was uncovered by the Iranian regime and resulted in the arrest of thousands and the execution of approximately one hundred persons (Ibid.; Degenhardt 1988, 167). On 3 August 1980 Bakhtiar reportedly called for the unification of democratic opposition forces and two days later founded the National Resistance Movement of Iran (Steiner 1987, 50). Reportedly having a "military" and a "civilian" branch, the National Resistance Movement published a "provisional national government" program inspired in what was called the true vindications ("revendications authentiques" in original French-language text) of the 1978 popular movement (Ibid.). According to the same source, the movement has had a central publication called "Quaimé Iran" and reportedly operated two transmitters for its "Radio Iran," one in Cairo and the other in Baghdad (Ibid., 51). The movement also published the Constitutionnaliste in Europe (Ibid.).

A 1992 review of world clandestine radios by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) mentions the National Resistance Movement as follows:
Radio Freedom (Radio Azadi) was first observed in January 1991, although it may have been in operation for some months. This radio broadcasts in Persian and is believed to operate from transmitters in Egypt, and may have replaced Radio Iran, formerly the Voice of Iran (operated since June 1980 by the National Resistance Movement of Iran led by former Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar). Radio Iran is thought to have closed down following the killing of Bakhtiar in Paris in August 1991. (BBC Summary of World Broadcasts 28 Mar. 1992).

One of the attached documents describes "the Paris-based National Resistance Movement of Iran under the leadership of Shapour Bakhtiar" as the most active monarchist group (Chapin Metz 1987, 215). The same document states that the movement's official position was the restoration of the 1906 Constitution as originally intended by its drafters, "with a Shah that reigns rather than rules" (Ibid.). The source adds that the group agreed to cooperate with another Paris-based party called the Iran Liberation Front, led by former royalist prime minister Ali Amini. The parties were reportedly weakened by personality conflicts among the leaders (Ibid.).

A 1991 publication names the group as the National Movement of Iranian Resistance, describing it as "apparently the best organized and best-financed exile organization" (Banks 1991, 318). The document adds that the movement "resorted to violence within Iran in September 1984 with a series of car bombings at Teheran and a rocket attack on a regional militia headquarters at Rezaiyeh" (Ibid.). The source names Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar and Abdul-Rahman Boroumand as the leaders of the movement (Ibid).

The attached news articles (listed below) provide information on the assassination of Shahpour Bakhtiar and Abdul-Rahman Boroumand in France in 1991. These articles indicate that Bakhtiar and a person described as his top aide, Souroush (spelled Fouroush in one article) Katibeh, were killed at the former's home in Suresnes, west of Paris in early-August 1991 (The Associated Press 9 Aug. 1991). One of the suspected killers is Fereydunn Boyerahmadi (spelled Refeydun Boyer in one article), himself a member of the National Iranian Resistance Movement, who apparently acted with at lest two others under orders from Iranian Islamic authorities (The Independent 4 Sept. 1991).

The attached articles indicate Mr. Abdul-Rahman Boroumand was killed in Paris in April 1991. Mr. Amir Hussein Amir-Parviz, described as "the London representative of the National Movement for Iranian Resistance, a group supporting the restoration of constitutional monarchy in Iran" was injured after the explosion of a bomb planted in his car in 1987, reportedly by members of a Hezbollah-backed group (The Daily Telegraph 15 Feb. 1989).

One of the attached articles reports that two agents of the Iranian secret services were sentenced in absence to prison terms in France after firearms were discovered in their abandoned vehicle (Agence France Presse 11 Mar. 1992). The two men, Naser Daryaei and Mahmoud Sheyzari, were reportedly involved in the bombing of a store in Frankfurt and were seen near Abdul-Rahman Boroumand's home (Ibid.). They had reportedly infiltrated the National Movement for Iranian Resistance through martial arts' clubs (Ibid.).

Agence France Presse. 11 March 1992. "Deux agents iraniens condamnés par défaut à Paris." (NEXIS)

The Associated Press. 9 August 1991, AM Cycle. "Ex-Iranian Premier Killed; Exiles Blame Tehran Hit Squad." (NEXIS)

Banks, Arthur S., ed. 1991. Political Handbook of the World: 1991. Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications.

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 28 March 1992. "Irregular and Clandestine Broadcasts." (NEXIS)

Chapin Metz, Helen, ed. 1987. Iran: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The Daily Telegraph. 15 February 1989. "1,000 Fanatics Might Answer Call." (NEXIS)

Degenhardt, Henry W., ed. 1988. Revolutionary and Dissident Movements. Burnt Mill, Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd.

The Economist Intelligence Unit. 1989. Iran Country Profile 1989-1990: Annual Survey of Political and Economic Background. London [U.K.]: Business International.

The Independent. 4 September 1991. "Bakhtiar Killing `Planned' in Iran." (NEXIS)

Steiner, Gita. 1987. Iran. Lausanne: Office Central Suisse D'Aide aux Réfugiés.

Agence France Presse. 11 March 1992. "Deux agents iraniens condamnes par défaut à Paris." (NEXIS)

_____. 14 August 1991. "Obsèques sous haute surveillance pour Chapour Bakhtiar à Paris." (NEXIS)

The Associated Press. 9 August 1991, AM Cycle. "Ex-Iranian Premier Killed; Exiles Blame Tehran Hit Squad." (NEXIS)

_____. 8 August 1991. "Chapour Bakhtiar, dernier premier ministre du chah d'Iran (bio-portrait)." (NEXIS)

Banks, Arthur S., ed. 1991. Political Handbook of the World: 1991. Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications, p. 318.

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 28 March 1992. "Irregular and Clandestine Broadcasts." (NEXIS) Chapin Metz, Helen, ed. 1987. Iran: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, p. 215.

The Daily Telegraph. 15 February 1989. "1,000 Fanatics Might Answer Call." (NEXIS)

Degenhardt, Henry W., ed. 1988. Revolutionary and Dissident Movements. Burnt Mill, Essex: Longman Group UK Ltd, p. 167.

The Economist Intelligence Unit. 1989. Iran Country Profile 1989-1990: Annual Survey of Political and Economic Background. London [U.K.]: Business International.

The Independent. 4 September 1991. "Bakhtiar Killing `Planned' in Iran." (NEXIS)

Inter Press Service. 9 August 1991. "Iran: A Hit List of Opposition in Exile." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 18 April 1991, BC Cycle. "Iranian Dissident Close to Bakhtiar Assassinated in Paris." (NEXIS)

_____. 8 August 1991, BC Cycle. "Former Premier Latest Iranian Dissident Killed in Exile." (NEXIS)

Steiner, Gita. 1987. Iran. Lausanne: Office central suisse d'aide aux réfugiés, pp. 50-51.