Washington, DC – The Mujahadeen-e Khalq (MEK), a cult-like Iranian terrorist organization with a history of violence and no support among the Iranian people, has been paying U.S. politicians to help them get off the State Department’s terrorist list. They are rallying in front of the State Department today to take the group of the terror list. Today, NIAC President Trita Parsi released the following statement in regards to the MEK campaign:
“If the MEK campaign is successful, it means that America’s national security is officially on sale to the highest bidder, and terror groups are free to set U.S. policies if the price is right.
Delisting the MEK has little to do with humanitarian concern or support for a democratic Iran, and everything to do with putting the military option at the center of our Iran policy. The group’s biggest supporters in Washington have suggested using the MEK in a ‘tit for tat’ campaign of attacks against Iran that could quickly escalate into war.
Despite the MEK’s claims, delisting the group would be disastrous for Iran’s nonviolent democratic opposition [..]
The MEK operates as a cult that abuses its own members, and delisting it would only worsen humanitarian concerns in Camp Ashraf by empowering the group’s leadership. MEK leaders have exploited the suffering of the people in Ashraf and obstructed serious humanitarian proposals in order to advance their agenda of gaining U.S. support.
If the MEK leadership truly cares about the people in Camp Ashraf, they would not threaten to order them to commit mass-suicide to U.S. diplomats if the MEK isn’t delisted.
This group’s history of fraudulent claims casts serious doubt that we can simply take them at their word that they are no longer engaged in terrorism. They claim to have changed their ways, but the MEK refuses to acknowledge that their attacks that killed Iranian and American civilians are terrorism. This begs the question: how does the MEK expect us to believe it has changed its ways if the organization doesn’t even acknowledge it was a terrorist group in the first place?”