Although the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) and the United States have fundamentally different interests in Iran, the group makes efforts to get in line with the anti-diplomacy party of the United States. The
The case seems a little complicated. On one hand, there are reports on covert support of the US government for the MKO. In 2008, Seymour Hersh revealed it in his “Preparing the Battlefield,” in the New Yorker. “The M.E.K. has been on the State Department’s terrorist list for more than a decade, yet in recent years the group has received arms and intelligence, directly or indirectly, from the United States’’, Hersh wrote. “Some of the newly authorized covert funds, the Pentagon consultant told me, may well end up in M.E.K. coffers.” [1]
On the other hand, following the recently published framework of nuclear deal, the US administration’s engagement in diplomacy with Islamic Republic seems constructive and effective.
Meanwhile, the MKO’ propaganda and lobbies are active. They continue to take advantage of partisan division in the Congress. They actively advocate for Congressmen such as Bob Corker, Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez who co-sponsored a bill to obstruct a nuclear deal with Iran.
The MKO cannot conceal its joy over such oppositions against the nuclear deal. The group’s propaganda favors any kind of opposition from any ordinary official all over the world, let alone the powerful Republicans of the US.
But the MKO’s joy may not last so long. The Huffington Post reported that Nancy Pelosi the leader of the Minority of the US House of Representatives may save negotiations for Obama:
“Senate Republicans on Tuesday reached a deal with the White House to require an Iran agreement to go through Congress for final approval. But even if they can come up with the two-thirds vote they would need to make a potential rejection of that agreement veto-proof, opponents would still need the same fraction in the House. Finding those votes will be difficult, given the ability of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to hold her caucus together. To stop naysayers’ efforts to override a possible veto by President Barack Obama, Pelosi would need to hold only 145 of her 188 Democrats. “ [2]
To our surprise, It is interesting to notice that Nancy Pelosi has once been misled by the MKO despite her pro-diplomacy stance. This is a part of an open letter to Mrs. Pelosi written by Ann Singleton, former Member of the MKO, member of Middle East Strategy Consultants and the author of the book “Saddam’s Private Army”:
“It will come as some surprise to you therefore, that a group of Iranian war-mongering regime change proponents, the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq (MEK), claim to have your support.
“In an astounding act of hubris, the MEK has not only appropriated your good name and attached it to a stance which is in contradiction to what you have always stated, but the group has also apparently fooled many of your opponents in Congress whose presence in this event has also been misrepresented as specific support for the MEK.
“The MEK’s website Iran News Online reported as a news item a celebration held in Congress on March 17 to mark the Iranian New Year or Norouz. According to this news item, the event was attended by several advocates and lobbyists of the MEK – those named include Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ted Poe and Jackson Lee, all of whom advocate the MEK’s regime change stance. As well as around 300 Congressional staff, many, but not all, of the attendees have been Neoconservatives whose anti-diplomacy stance is overtly expressed by people like John Bolton who so recently exhorted America to ‘bomb Iran’.” [3]
As a person who has experienced living in the cult-like MKO, Mrs. Singleton correctly warns the US official to beware of the MKO’s deceitful tactics to mislead, manipulate and misuse politicians so as to reach their violent ambitions:
“I write to you as an expert on the MEK who has been campaigning for over a decade to help free the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, and to expose the lies and deceit of the MEK’s leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. I would urge you to investigate the matter of your name and reputation being hijacked by this group. But further, I would urge you also to alert your colleagues in Congress – including those who are your political opponents – to the duplicitous methods of this group. The MEK’s unchallenged interference in the political process of America is not only very much against your country’s national interests, it is a slap in the face of those peaceful Iranians and Americans who, like yourself and President Obama have invested so much time and energy into allowing diplomacy to work.” [4]
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1]Hersh, Seymour, Preparing the Battlefield The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran, The NewYorker , July 7th, 2008
[2] Grim, Ryan & Barron-Lopez, Laura, Nancy Pelosi May Save The Iran Negotiations For Obama, The Huffington Post, April14, 2015
[3] Singleton, Ann, Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi: Don’t allow the MEK to hijack your name, Iran Interlink, April 14, 2014
[4] ibid