Despite presenting itself as a moderate opposition force in the eyes of Western public opinion, the MEK continues to perpetrate terrorist actions in Iran for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, as demonstrated by their own official website, in which the attacks are described as heroic acts.
In our previous article, we summarized the history of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq , a political organization whose declared aim is the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran , known by the acronym of MEK or PMOI (from the English People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran ). As we underlined on that occasion, in 1997 the United States included the MEK in the list of terrorist organizations , due to their modus operandi which effectively followed exactly that of a terrorist organization that uses attacks to achieve its goals.
In 2012, however, the United States decided to start using the organization for its own purposes of destabilizing the Islamic Republic and, taking advantage of the military occupation of Iraq, a country in which many MEK militants were located, made tacit agreements with them. Just in September 2012, Washington officially removed the name of the MEK from the list of terrorist organizations , with the organization’s own leadership officially acknowledging its past mistakes, declaring that it would thereafter act solely as a political force of opposition to the Republic Islamic, renouncing the path of attacks.
This cosmetic operation had highly positive implications both for the United States and for the MEK itself. The Washington government, in fact, was able to support Mojahedin-e-Khalq openly with an anti-Iranian function, without having to worry too much about public opinion; indeed, there are quite a few exponents of the most recent administrations who have expressed their support in favor of the MEK on public occasions. For its part, the organization has cleaned up its image internationally , presenting itself as a legitimate moderate opposition force to the Iranian theocracy.
The MEK has attempted in every way to attract the support of Western progressive political groups, who do not look favorably on a regime like that of the Islamic Republic, by leveraging media propaganda that exploits the pretext of human rights and the condition of women to foment anti-Iranian sentiment in public opinion. For this reason, the official political program of the MEK presents points such as the establishment of a democratic republic, religious freedom, gender equality in every sphere of society, the legalization of alcoholic beverages, freedom of speech, association and expression, the right to choose whether or not to wear the veil, all arguments that can find general agreement among Western public opinion. Furthermore, the MEK also proposes a close alliance of Iran with Western countries and the recognition of the State of Israel , which according to numerous sources would support the organization militarily.
This cosmetic operation to clean up its image, however, conceals a much darker reality, which sees the MEK continue to carry out terrorist operations in Iran , causing serious damage and casualties, both military and civilian, in order to achieve its political goals. This dark face of the MEK is clearly kept quiet in front of the Western public, to the point that the organization’s official website ( news.mojahedin.org ) does not report news about terrorist attacks, except in its own Fārsī language version . While in the foreign language versions the MEK presents itself as an opposition political party with a moderate outlook, in Persian all this turns into extremist frenzy .
In the Fārsī language version , the term ” insurrection centers ” (کانونهای شورشی) frequently appears , which are none other than the terrorist cells that operate in Iran carrying out attacks in public places. These episodes, which continually affect the Iranian military and civilian population, are described as acts of heroism by MEK militants, but are then kept quiet in front of the Western public, which certainly could not accept their governments’ support for a terrorist group which boasts of its bomb attacks.
For example, in July this year the MEK carried out 23 terrorist operations to celebrate the 35th anniversary of what the organization calls Operation Forough Javidan (or “Eternal Light”), an attempted invasion of Iranian Kurdistan in course of the war events between Iran and Iraq. On that occasion, the MEK was defeated, suffering numerous losses, which in the language of the organization are called martyrs. As part of this wave of terrorist attacks, the MEK boasts, for example, of having blown up the barracks of the Revolutionary Guards in Ravansar, the headquarters of the national news agency IRNA in Qazvin and numerous other public buildings across the country, as well as setting fire to images of Iranian revolutionary leaders.
Analyzing the MEK website in Persian, there are numerous episodes of this type that can be found in the year 2023 alone (year 1402 of the Persian calendar). Terrorist episodes are often organized on the occasion of anniversaries considered important in the history of the MEK, such as the aforementioned Operation Forough Javidan, or the establishment of the National Council of Iranian Resistance , an organization and political coalition founded on 20 July 1981 and closely linked to the MEK. In fact, even on the occasion of this anniversary, terrorist attacks against the garrisons of the Revolutionary Guards and other episodes of violence occurred throughout the country.
Browsing the MEK’s official website, you can also see how these terrorist attacks are not isolated episodes, as there are several every month , and they affect every area of the country. The main targets of these operations are the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and other armed forces or the judiciary, and are described in pompous tones in an attempt to glorify the actions of the terrorists, decorated with the title of “heroes”, all accompanied by celebratory videos disseminated through the organization’s Telegram channel . An image therefore very different from the one that is sold to Western public opinion, and of which we want to spread awareness through this article, so that Don’t fall into the trap of supporting a terrorist organization like the MEK again.
By Giulio Chinappi – giuliochinappi.wordpress.com