Speaker: US Seeking to Dominate Region under Pretext of War on Terrorism
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani strongly criticized the United States’ double-standard approach towards terrorism, and reiterated that Washington is using the so-called war on terrorism as an excuse to dominate the region.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has frequently announced that based on information the US pursues a hypocritical attitude towards the issue of terrorism and views it as a pretext for dominating the region," Larijani said on Sunday.
He further referred to the recent remarks made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the terrorist groups active in the region have been formed through Washington’s collaboration with certain regional countries to confront the former Soviet Union, and asked Clinton, "Why should the regional nations pay for your filthy desires?"
Larijani pointed to the massacre of more than one million people in Iraq and Afghanistan during the last 9 years by the US and its allies under the pretext of the war against terrorism, and said Washington and its agents and proxies should be blamed for the damages they have inflicted on the region.
Iranian officials have on many occasions blasted the West’s double-standard approach towards terrorism, and condemned the intelligence agencies of certain western countries, specially the US, for supporting terrorist groups and organizations against Iran. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said in a statement in August that while the Islamic Republic of Iran attaches special importance to its cooperation with the international community in anti-terrorism campaign, the western countries and the US in particular followed a double-standard policy towards the issue.
He said the example of such a policy was the extensive activities of the members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in these countries and their close relationship with the political figures there.
He also pointed to the role of some western countries and their intelligence services, specially those belonging to the US, in supporting the terrorist organizations working against Iran like the grouplet led by Rigi and the PJAK as among other cases of such a double-standard behavior.
Mehman-Parast also reiterated that the US tried to cover up its own terrorist nature by raising claims against other countries and accusing them.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a letter last year 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).
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.
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 were 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.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.
Some other ranking members of the MKO who have had a role in the assassination of a large number of Iranian citizens and officials are currently living in France.