Hatred towards the Mojahedin Terrorists is an indication of close ties between the people of Iran and Iraq
In a meeting with a number of Iraqi cultural figures as well as academicians in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said, "From the start of the US and other occupiers’ invasion of Iraq, we described the military campaign as a ‘quandary.’ Now, years after the assault, the occupiers are in reality mired in Iraq’s quagmire."
"Colonial acceptance has no place in Muslim states particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan and if the occupiers seek to linger in these two countries under any pretext, they should satisfy public demands," he added.
According to Press TV, the Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council meanwhile termed the Iraqi nation as prudent and resistant, adding that the high turnout of Iraqis at the parliamentary elections was a true representative of their commitment to Islamic values.
He noted that Tehran calls for Iraq’s perseverance of territorial integrity as well as the establishment of stability and tranquility in the war-torn country.
Hashemi Rafsanjani meanwhile called on Iraqi scholars and academician to seal a bright future for their country through teaching and training Iraqi students.
The Ayatollah also referred to the Iranian and Iraqi nations’ hatred towards the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) as an indication of close ties and feelings between the officials and people of the two countries.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.
Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who was killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. – FNA
