The US secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech on his administration’s foreign policy towards Iran at Reagan Library seems to be another sign of determination of the US administration to topple the Iranian government. His speech might have cheered up the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi) more than anyone else because Pompeo’s words were was just as aggressive as the speeches the MKO’s American advocates made in the group’s annual gathering earlier this his month in Paris.
However, the essence of Pompeo’s speech should be analyzed to conclude to what extent, if any at all, benefits the MKO. There is a big doubt that it benefits them at all.
The retired Foreign Service Officer John Limbert asserts Pompeo’s speech in California on Sunday night “reveals some basic facts about the administration’s approach to Iran” but it does not indicate what the administration wants beyond the end of the Islamic Republic. “It knows what it does not want,” writes Limbert. “It has no idea what it does want.” [1]
“It has no coherent message on Iran,” he adds. “On the one hand, Pompeo says that people in Iran should have the same freedoms that Iranian-Americans enjoy. On the other hand, President Trump, in his midnight tweet, threatens to annihilate millions of them.” [2]
Ali Vaez, the director of Iran Project at the International Crisis Group (ICG), says Pompeo’s outreach effort is “an exercise in futility.” [3]
“Iranian opposition in exile is too fractured, too disconnected from the country’s realities, and basically beyond repair. Any alternative to the Islamic republic should be homegrown, not engineered in the Golden State (California),” Vaez said in an e-mail to RFE/RL. [4]
Limbert points out the MKO as the alternative that the US administration may think of. He recounts the reality of the MKO and the ambiguity of the group and its advocates in the US administration. He confirms the hypocrisy of the MKO as an anti-American political group that has turned out to be the ally of the US President’s security advisor John Bolton and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Limbert initiates his argument with a very famous Persianslogan of the MKO:
“The angry Mojahed lies in ambush in the alley,
American, come out. Your blood will flow on the ground.”
“Thus sang the militants of the Iranian opposition group MEK(Mojahedin-e-Khalq) to a catchy Kurdish folk tune,” he describes the MKO’s true face. “Now the same group—rebranding itself as democratic and pluralistic—presents itself as the best alternative to the current reactionary theocracy. In so doing, it has purchased support from Americans on both left and right, including the current national security advisor, the president’s personal attorney, and the former speaker of the House of Representatives.” [5]
He suggests that the overthrow of the Islamic Republic will leave Trump’s administration in bewilderment and those who advocate the Mujahedin will be left with a notorious group which is not desired in Iran. “John Bolton and his friends, would end up backing the above-noted MEK, a group hated by most Iranians and resembling a combination of the Jonestown cult and the Khmer Rouge,” he writes. [6]
Limbert approves that Pompeo and his partners do not know enough about the realities of the Iranian society. “I keep wondering who is feeding him this information,” Limbert told the NPR of Pompeo’s remarks. “It’s clear from his speech that he understands nothing about the internal dynamics of the country.” [7]
Pual Pillar of Lobelog has a good response to the question. He states that the US administration has resorted to the policy as a last resort to a terrorist group that in its long list of victims even there are American citizens, in his meager policies. “Even if the regime in Iran were to change significantly in the next couple of years, that leaves the question of the direction of change,” he writes. “The bankruptcy of the administration’s thinking on this subject is underscored by the role that the cult-cum-terrorist-group known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (or MEK)—which was invited to Pompeo’s speech—plays in that thinking. The MEK has American blood on its hands, and it lost almost all support it once had in Iran when it became an auxiliary to Saddam Hussein’s security apparatus during the Iran-Iraq War. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, and his lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, are among those close to the president who have sung the praises of the MEK in exchange for fat speaking fees.” [8]
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Limbert, John, Pompeo and Iran: A Bizarre Mentality, Lobelog, July 24th, 2018
[2] ibid
[3]Esfandiari, Golnaz, Pompeo Reaches Out To Iranian-Americans Amid Hard-Line On Iran, Radio Farda, July 20th, 2018
[4] ibid
[5] Limbert, John, Pompeo and Iran: A Bizarre Mentality, Lobelog, July 24th, 2018
[6] ibid
[7] Kelemen, Michele; Leff ,Alex Trump Administration’s Support For Iran Protests May Backfire, Experts Warn, NPR, July 28th, 2018
[8] Pillar, Paul R., The Ugly Destination of Trump’s Iran Policy, lobelog, July 23rd, 2018