IRAN'S SHELL GAME

Less than a month afterPresident Clinton blocked a $1 billion deal between Conoco Oil and Iran, the Royal Dutch-Shell Group is treading where U.S. companies now cannot. The Anglo-Dutch company acknowledged its negotiations today, but would not confirm reports that it sought the same lucrative contract that the Houston-based Conoco was forced to give up. SaysTIME business writer John Greenwald: "This shows that when you try to hurt Iran by barring American companies from doing business with it, foreign companies are only too willing to rush in."