Tehran should offer assistance to the Baghdad government in shutting down Iraq’s Camp Ashraf that houses members of terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said, Press TV reported with reference to Mehr News Agency.
Jazayeri told that the Iraqi nation would like to see Camp Ashraf closed, but the US keeps making efforts to impede the process.
Saying that Iran must aid Iraq in closing down Camp Ashraf, the general added that when it comes to the closure of the camp, Washington’s falsehood further becomes apparent.
"This camp has served as the base for the world’s most notorious terrorists over the recent decades," he further explained.
"Unfortunately, this camp has been fully backed by Americans and Israelis and the hated [former] Iraqi regime [of Saddam Hussein]; thus, in case the [current] Iraqi government gets the required authority over that compound, it will soon shut down the place ..," said the top general.
"We expect international organizations and circles, as well as all those that claim to advocate human rights, to seriously deal with crimes committed by these terrorists and mete out the punishment that fits their crimes," he noted.
Earlier in May, the US proposed a plan to relocated Camp Ashraf residents to other parts of Iraq before their final resettlement in third countries.
The U.S. designated the MKO a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997; the group is still on the list. Britain and the European Union took the group off their terrorist lists in 2008 and 2009 respectively after court rulings that found no evidence of terrorist actions after the MKO renounced violence in 2001.
On April 11, Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the cabinet was determined to shut the camp down.
The MKO fled to Iraq in the 1980s, where it enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in the eastern province of Diyala, near the Iranian border.
Over 3,000 MKO members are currently residing at the camp. Since Saddam was deposed in 2003, the Iraqi government has set numerous deadlines for the group to leave the country.
Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group.
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