A senior Iranian lawmaker says the European Union seeks to provide a platform for the
“The European Union intends to provide opportunities for the MKO terrorist group so they can step into diplomatic circles,” said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Majlis (parliament), on Wednesday.
His comments come in reaction to a recent move by EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton to appoint Jean De Ruyt as the bloc’s advisor to address the situation of the terrorist group in Camp Ashraf, Mehr news agency reported.
The appointment comes as the Iraqi government has announced its decision to shut down Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala province, where MKO members live.
Falahatpisheh noted that in the past the EU and the US supported the MKO to help the group carry out acts of terror in Iran, and argued that the terrorist organization has turned into a “political tool” for the West.
The fact that the EU has repeatedly listed and delisted the MKO as a terrorist organization throws doubt on Brussels’ position on the MKO, the legislator pointed out.
Members of the MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where they enjoyed the support of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up Camp Ashraf.
The group has carried out numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.
The terror organization is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the north.
Tehran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.