A former top commander of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) says the organization has close ties with Israeli operatives, helping them in their covert operations against Iran.
In a telephone interview with Israel’s Maariv radio on March 5, Massoud Khodabandeh noted that it was no surprise to hear about the role of the MKO terrorists in assassinating Iran’s nuclear scientists.
Some US officials told the NBC network last week that the MKO terrorists have been involved in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in the past two years.
Since January 2010, a total of six Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated by operatives of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, which is using the MKO terrorists for the attacks.
“I was not surprised by the recent revelations as I am fully aware of Israel’s relations with the MKO.” Khodabandeh added.
He said the MKO has extensive relations with Israel and its operatives in Europe work with Israeli agents.
According to the ex-MKO official, most members of the organization are women. Their leader Maryam Rajavi, also a woman, is the wife of top MKO member Massoud Rajavi who ‘disappeared’ 10 years ago and there is no information available on his current whereabouts.
The organization has strong financial resources and two major bases; one in the suburbs of Paris and the other Camp Ashraf in Iraq. The MKO elements were recently evacuated from Ashraf to Liberty Camp in Iraq.
Khodabandeh said the organization has 5,000 members, barred from any contact with the outside world, who totally obey the Rajavis.
Ann Singleton, the wife of Khodabandeh and a former MKO member, also noted that the MKO has never been independent and has always relied on foreign support.
She added that it would be quite logical to imagine that the organization has been involved in the assassination of Iranian scientist.
Dr. Trita Parsi, a prominent MKO critic, also noted that the MKO is not a simple organization, but a cult which suppresses even its own members.
The MKO is termed as a terrorist organization under the US law, and has been described by the US State Department officials as a repressive cult.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator, Saddam Hussein.
The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds. The group has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.