A senior Iranian lawmaker has called on the French government to include the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) on its blacklist of terror organizations.
In a Wednesday meeting with the visiting head of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Élisabeth Guigou, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who chairs the Iranian Parliament’s (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, criticized the European Union (EU) for removing the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations.
| Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s (Majlis) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Alaeddin Boroujerdi (R) meets with Élisabeth Guigou, the head of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, in Tehran on July 29, 2015. (ICANA photo) |
Boroujerdi further said the EU decision has enabled the terrorist group, which has the blood of thousands of innocent Iranians on its hands, to “freely operate” in European countries.
The Islamic Republic expects France to blacklist the anti-Iran terror group and end its activities in the European country, added the top Iranian parliamentarian.
The MKO has carried out numerous terrorist attacks on civilians and government officials in Iran over the past three decades. Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks since the victory of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, some 12,000 have fallen victim to the acts of terror carried out by the MKO.
The group was viewed by the EU as terrorist until January 2009, when the EU Council lifted the designation under immense pressure from political lobbies. The decision was followed by United States in September 2012.
Boroujerdi further highlighted the need for more efforts at the international level for fighting terrorism in the Middle East, saying the activities of the terror groups in countries like Iraq and Syria pose a huge threat to the global peace and security.
The French lawmaker, for her part, warned against the growing wave of terror threats in the region.
Guigou called Iran a stable country in the Middle East which can play a big role in the fight against terrorism, adding that Tehran and the international community can increase their concentration in this regard.