The MEK and Acts of Treason

The MEK is NOT the voice of Iranian Nation

A petition was created on Change.org against an article on the National Post that promotes the Mujahedin-e Khalq as the alternative of the Iranian government.

On November 1st, the National Post published an article, titled “Tony Clement: Iran’s Pro-Democracy Resistance Deserves the West’s Support” in which the former Canadian federal politician and former member of Parliament claims to have issued a statement along with eighteen other former government ministers from Canada and the European Union urging Western Powers to recognize the MEK as a legitimate alternative to the current government in Tehran. The so-called statement calls for Maryam Rajavi to install a provisional government as a transitional president.

National post article on Toney Clement comments

he petition considers the MEK “a deeply problematic group” that never presents the aspirations of the Iranian nation. It offers a brief history of the group atrocities and treasons:

So, what is the MEK?

MEK is a political-militant organization, described by critics as a ‘totalitarian cult’, currently led by Maryam Rajavi whose primary mission is to overthrow the I.R.I. According to an estimate by the United States Department of Defense in 2011, the guerrilla group has between 5,000-13,000 members, the majority of whom live in Europe and the US – with currently no support or relevancy in Iran.

MEK was designated as a terrorist organization by the US in 1997. The group has taken responsibility for many acts of terrorism over its inception in 1960s, including:
• Involvement in the killing of 6 US citizens in Iran in the 1970s
• Staged attacks against civilian and military targets across the border in Iran for over two decades
• Involvement in Sadam Hussein’s genocide against the kurds in 1991
• Attacking Iranian embassies in 13 countries including Canada and the US in 1992
• Assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in 2012

After years of intense lobbying, MEK managed to reverse its designation as a terrorist organization across the western world. By rebranding itself as a pro-democratic group that advocates for gender equality, the MEK does little to hide its ties to the ultraconservative and autocratic government of Saudi Arabia. As Britain removed the group of its terror list in 2008, the European Union followed suit in 2009, followed by Canada and the United States in 2012 – allowing for MEK to lobby freely.

We urge the leaders of Canadian political parties to practice their solidarity and advocacy by listening to the demands of Iranian people; to condemn Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) and all of its fronts and campaigns; and to recognize that MEK is NOT the voice of Iranian people.

November 22, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Michal Rubin: the MEK is at best, a creepy cult; at worst, a terrorist group

The American journalist, Michael Rubin warns about the US strategy to support the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK/ MKO/ Cult of Rajavi). He discusses three Iran strategies taken by the US that are guaranteed to fail. One is supporting the MEK which according to him at best is a creepy cult; at worst, it is a terrorist group.

Rubin who is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributor to the Washington Examiner and Commentary Magazine, is a critic of the Iranian government but he is also an opponent to any policy based on embracing the MEK and ethnic separatist groups. He has already written several articles to warn western politicians about the MEK’s cult-like terrorist background. In his recent article on the Washington Examiner, on August 4th, 2022, Rubin asserts about the MEK, “What it is not and has never been is popular or democratic.”

Leaked photo of MEK’s Albanian headquarters

On the MEK’s alleged part to expose the Iranian nuclear program Rubin writes, “That the group sometimes reveals intelligence is no metric of its influence or infiltration within the Iranian system. First, its intelligence is often wrong. Second, even when right, it simply represents how the Israelis, Saudis, or perhaps even the CIA use the group to launder information to the public so that the real fingerprints of those who gathered it are not exposed.”

About a year ago, Rubin condemned the American politicians who spoke in Maryam Rajavi’s annual gathering. He titled his article by this statement: “The Mujahedin-e-Khalq has become a barometer of Washington corruption.” He denounced a number of American retired authorities who advocate the MEK in exchange for “Five and six-figure honoraria and speakers’ fees.”

He accurately argued that corruption of the MEK’s paid speakers is obvious because “In reality, its leaders Masoud and Maryam Rajavi rule with an iron fist. It runs as a cult with its rank-and-file cut off from their families and the broader society.”

“Claims about high support inside Iran are fiction”, Rubin emphasized. “Many resent the MKO’s terrorism that as often killed innocent Iranians as the regime officials they targeted. More despise the group for siding with Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War.”

August 23, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

Deceptive Recruitment in Albania – MEK Treachery Against Iranians Continues

Reports continue to emerge about malign behaviour by the MEK in Albania. In December 2021 two leading members were arrested for human trafficking and drug smuggling. The removal of an article from Alice Taylor for Exit News which reported the arrests highlighted MEK interference in Albania’s media as well as other state bodies. Exit News further reported that a foreign diplomat was notified about the case by a senior police official, but that the embassy involved failed to respond to media questions and that subsequently no prosecutions resulted. Under such conditions of foreign protection, whoever ordered the reinstatement of the Exit News article should be applauded. However, vigilance must be maintained to prevent further misdemeanours by this cultic group.

Recently it has been reported that MEK members are helping Albanian police identify Iranians among migrants arriving in the country. On the surface, this might appear a benign form of help. But deeper inspection reveals a sinister treachery.

Working with the police in itself throws up questions. Migrants seeking asylum from repressive countries have no need or benefit in lying about their origins. What role do the MEK personnel play in seeking out fraudsters? Who lies about their origins? Do the police employ the MEK members in some official capacity or are they simply there as ‘volunteers’? In this scenario, do the police ‘employ’ other ethnicities to identify their own? Once such individuals are identified, what purpose does this serve? Are the MEK personnel used as translators? Are the individuals informed that these are members of MEK? These questions should in themselves raise alarm bells about the involvement of this unethical, criminal group in a highly sensitive arena involving extremely vulnerable asylum seekers.

However, there is growing evidence that MEK are able to exploit this scenario for recruitment purposes. They will tell the migrant in Farsi that they will almost certainly be deported back to Iran unless they accept help from them. That help will be framed as facilitating their forward travel to Germany or France or the UK, etc, and that only they can prevent deportation. In this case, the target will need to stay in Camp Ashraf 3 to ensure their safety until travel arrangements can be made. In reality, no such arrangements will be made and these duped victims will be trapped inside Camp Ashraf 3 with no recourse to help or saviour.

This is exactly how MEK has behaved in the past. During the Iran Iraq war 1880-88, the MEK would visit Iranian Prisoners of War in Iraqi camps. They would promise to remove them from the appalling conditions of the camps where death, violence, torture and malnutrition were a daily risk. The PoW would be taken to Camp Ashraf and from there, the MEK would promise to facilitate their return to Iran, often via Europe. Of course, that never happened, and tens of these PoWs are still trapped in the MEK camp in Albania after three decades.

Later, as Iranians fled from the post-war revolutionary conditions imposed on them in Iran, including financial hardship, the MEK set up a recruitment department in Turkey to lure would be victims with similar deceptive promises of help. All the migrants needed to do, they were told, was come to Iraq for a while until arrangements could be made to transfer them to Europe of North America. Again, this was a deceptive trap, and these individuals were never freed from either Iraq or now Albania unless they made their own escape.

The MEK needs to recruit now in particular. From the 3800 members detained in Iraq by the US army in 2003, only around 1600 or fewer remain in Albania. The attrition of members has come about from various causes. Most are defections – tens of hundreds of people who simply could continue as members of a cult that daily destroys them and so fled the clutches of MEK. Some have died – from old age, illness, murder and suicide and of course, COVID-19. Of those who remain, the great majority are old, sick or disabled – from war and disease and neglect.

Whatever the reason, the number of members has diminished and deteriorated so much that the MEK’s sponsors and masters are beginning to find them a burden rather than an asset. Certainly, even slaves need feeding, housing and clothing if they are to perform valuable tasks. The return for this contract is barely worth it. Rajavi sells her organisation’s members for various tasks – to organise and participate in glitzy propaganda rallies, to act as click farm operatives and perhaps most sinister, to be the hiding place for several dangerous persons skilled in terrorism and prepared for suicide missions. As long as these services are in demand, Rajavi has a need for more younger healthier members. But there is a fine balance as to how necessary and cost effective this particular group is in the west’s calculations.

Whether or not the anti-Iran coalition continues to fund and exploit the MEK in its current manifestation – a slave camp in Albania – the authorities there should consider the national interests of Albania now and what its presence there means to the future of the country. There are, of course, multiple steps that can be taken toward dismantling the group. Certainly, this should start with preventing further recruitment into the camp and into slavery.

By Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh,

January 11, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Double Standards on the MEK Terrorism

As we have all heard, many double-standards are commonly adopted and implemented around the world. Like the actions that take place with the issue of global terrorism, and in many cases these policies are simply ignored and rejected by the international community and the media. In general, the behavior of Western countries in the face of two identical events that occur in two different places or countries is a completely different and sometimes contradictory behavior.

If people in their 50s or 60s remember, the terrorist group of MEK assassinated six American advisers in the 1970s and published the news of the assassinations in a magazine affiliated to its group and was also proud of it. The interesting thing was that although the United States had placed the group on the list of terrorist organizations, it removed them from the list in an unexected turn, and even provided this terrorist group with financial, political, and intelligence assistance. This is one clear example of these double standards regarding international terrorism, in another example, the terrorist group of MEK has killed more than 12,000 Iranians, 6 Americans and thousands of Iraqi Kurds, and has repeatedly tortured and executed its own members, in a stupefying act holds a meeting in the Italian Senate, with some of the country’s political officials accusing Iran of violating human rights laws. In conclusion, I must say that this terrorist group does not even allow its own members to get married. In this group, no one has the right to think about sex, and if someone thinks about it, he or she should inform the superiors about it to be ridiculed, humiliated and finally insulted in a meeting. None of its members has the right to criticize the group and its leadership, and if they do, they will be tortured and even executed. According to many European and American scholars, this group is a terrorist cult, now with this regard, how can such a group claim human rights while violating all human rights laws regarding its own members?

Female soldiers of the National Liberation Army of Iran stand in formation at a training camp east of Baghdad, Iraq. Women make up nearly half of the NLA, the armed wing of the MEK.
Photo: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images

In this interview with Dr. Haniyeh Tarkian, an Italian Islamic-Studies researcher and geopolitical analyst, we intend to ask questions about different aspects of the MEK activities.

Jack Turner: Some time ago, the MEK held anti-Iranian meeting in the Italian Senate under the pretext of human rights violations in Iran. Despite the fact that this terrorist group was on the list of American and European terrorist groups until 2012 and has shed the blood of thousands of Iranians, Americans and the Iraqi Kurds, and the torturers of this terrorist cult are still proud of their criminal acts, how is it possible that some of the Italian authorities are willing to attend a meeting of such a terrorist group?

Dr. Hanieh Tarkian: On the one side, we should not be surprised of European and Western double standards towards terrorism and terrorists. We have witnessed their bias in the Syrian crisis, when Western media, politicians and activists supported the so-called “moderate rebels” against the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad. However, in reality, these “moderate rebels” committed crimes that were no less in number and cruelty than those of the ISIS terrorists, and we must also remember how the West supported Saddam Hussein’s crimes against Iran. On the other side, unfortunately, some Italian politicians and authorities are profoundly influenced by the American and Zionist propaganda against Iran and they do not know anything about Iran except that which comes from those sources.

J.T: How do you justify the contradictory view of the supporters of this terrorist group on human rights? While the fans of the group support them on the field of human rights violations in Iran, there are many cases of human rights violations in their past and present, and these criminal acts cannot be denied. (Deprivation of the right to marry, have children and have sex because of their cult affairs in the group to the massacre of more than 12,000 Iranians and also collaborating with Saddam in the genocide of Iraqi Kurds, and assassinating 6 American advisers are part of human rights violations and crimes against humanity related to this terrorist group).

H.T: It cannot really be justified; some of them as I said really do ignore the actual facts and do not know anything about the history of MEK and their ideology and some others are in bad faith and at the service of Western propaganda. This is why I think it is very important to make people aware of the history of MEK and their crimes. Western politicians will probably keep their biased view because they are at the service of American and Zionist propaganda but we have to do our best to let people know the truth. Most people in the West do not trust the media anymore as they did in the past, and they are looking for reliable sources of information.

J.T: As you know, the terrorist group of the MEK is known in the world for spreading fake news and propaganda against Iran, and the United States has repeatedly acknowledged that this information and news is false in its reports, such news as an example is the producing atomic bombs. That news was repeatedly sent by the MEK to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but after inspectors visited the area, they found out that there was no case in that area. Also on human rights issues, the group is spreading lies by creating troll farms that with this trick they can mislead political officials and whitewash their own activities. Do you think that with this black record and history, this terrorist group is a reliable entity for the political authorities to organize a meeting against Iran because of these cases?

H.T: This terrorist group is not a reliable entity but I think those in charge of the Western media propaganda are not looking for a reliable source; when they were spreading false news about the Syrian government they used the false reports from terrorist groups such as al-Nusra. From the Western media point of view, everything that introduces in a negative way the Axis of Resistance and the countries (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, etc.) and groups (Pasdaran, Hezbollah, Ansarullah, etc.) linked to it is good, although false. They are not looking for the truth, they are looking for their interests, they want people to think that the Axis of Resistance is an evil entity and the USA, the EU and their allies are fighting against this enemy. Whereas we know that the Axis of Resistance and the countries and groups linked to it are trying to preserve their nation, their people, their culture and their resources from the globalist and arrogant forces.

J.T: The United States have repeatedly faced a double standard in dealing with the issue of terrorism, such as what we have seen in Syria and Iraq, attacking the forces that confronted ISIS or other terrorist groups, even in the case of the MEK, with the regard that they were on the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) until 2012 but the political figures of the USA attended their meetings and spoke in their favor. In your opinion where do the double standard and activities of the United States on global terrorism come from? Why does the United States support a group that assassinated American citizens? Is this group a puppet for western countries or do they have another scenario for them?

H.T: The United States wants the Axis of Resistance, the countries and groups linked to it to become weak, they see them as their enemy because it prevents the Americans and their allies to reach their interests in the region. One of the ways to reach this aim is to maintain a state of perennial destabilization in the region (West Asia) and the terrorist groups have an important role in this, so the United States supports them as long as they are useful for their interests.

J.T: The terrorist group of MEK is one of the opposition groups of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has no social base, not only inside Iran but also among other opposition groups, because they are known for betraying Iran because of their alliance with Saddam. On the other hand, the members present in their camp in Albania have reached old age and are losing their capabilities. Now with this regard how do you assess the future of this group?

H.T: As you said they do not have social base and they are weak, the strength and influence they seemingly have now come only from the propaganda and the support they receive from the Western countries. They are small in number, nobody likes them, and eventually the Western countries will get rid of them as they did with Saddam when he was not useful for their interests anymore.

J.T: There have always been many ambiguities about the financial issues of this group. Holding glamorous conferences in Paris, paying speakers and politicians to participate in their programs, and various lobbies against the Islamic Republic of Iran are just some of the huge expenses that this group spends. It does not seem that only members’ financial contributions can compensate for these costs, apart from the cost of keeping members of this group in Albania. Don’t you think that the judiciary and regulatory bodies in charge have turned a blind eye to MEK’s money laundering and other crimes?

H.T: I would not be surprised if that were the case, as this is part and parcel of the Western double standards.

By Jack Turner- Geopolitica.ru

January 8, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Fictitious Courts: The Illegitimate Relation of MEK and West

As we have all heard, double-standard policies in the world are always adopted and enforced, and in many cases, these policies are simply overlooked by the international community and the media. In a general view, it may be possible to state that the main point according to this cliché that “the end justifies the mean”, which means, in some cases the reactions of Western countries in the face of two identical events that occurred in two different places are completely different and sometimes contradictory. In the present interview with Mr. Robert Fantina, we address a few questions about the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which are an epitome of these inconsistencies and dual policies of the Western political community and media.

Robert Fantina; Journalist

Mr. Robert Fantina is a journalist and political analyst, and an author of wonderful books that you can find on Amazon. He’s working for peace and social justice. He writes extensively about US foreign policy and the Middle East, which focus on Palestine, he serves on the board of Canadian voices for Palestinian rights and Canadian for peace and justice in Kashmir.

JT: As you know, in the war condition when two countries are in conflict, if someone betrays his or her country, in most countries of the world, this person is sentenced to death. Does this law also apply in the United States?

– As you know the MEK betrayed their country during the Iran-Iraq war and massacred a large number of innocent people in their country. They even massacred hospital patients in their invasion to Iran, this kind of action which is also prohibited by international law is known as a terrorist act. What do you think is the verdict of these people in wartime?

RF: yes, it does. Treason, the act of being a traitor, is dealt with severely in most circumstances. Some countries have outlawed execution, the United States has not, and this is an option if somebody doing that.

The MEK is a terrorist organization that seeks the overthrow of the legitimate government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their terrorist activities – the killing of innocent people – are well-known. Yet they receive support from some western nations, most notably the United States, because that nation’s government harbors an irrational hatred of Iran, and will support any organization, even a terrorist one, that opposes it.

The leaders of the MEK should be charged in the International Criminal Court with the many crimes they have committed.

JT: As you know, the money of the MEK has led to the non-observance of international law in Western countries, and as we have seen in the case of Asadullah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat with political immunity, was illegally detained in Germany and in a Belgian court, he has sentenced to 20 years in prison that this verdict violates the 1961 Geneva Convention, and now Mr. Hamid Nouri has been arrested by the Swedish police on a sham complaint and is on trial. On his trial, he had repeatedly stated that he had not served in the Iranian judiciary at the time due to the pregnancy of his wife, and another point was that Mr. Nouri was not a decision-maker in the judiciary at that time, Do you think that a person who did not appear in the court and did not even a decision-maker can be condemned on behalf of a government?

– As you know, the courts issue the verdicts according to the judicial laws of the same country. Do you think that a court in a European country or any other country has the right to decide on the rulings of the Iranian courts? If that were the case, would it not be better to prosecute the US and Saudi Arabian court judges who sentenced people to death, or an American police officer who pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes for being black and suffocating him?

RF: This is another case of western hypocrisy. If an official of any country is accused of a crime, there are international bodies, such as the International Criminal Court, that are responsible for dealing with the situation. One must consider, for a moment, if a U.S. official, say, for example, former President Donald Trump, was visiting a European nation and was arrested for the murder of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Trump ordered his assassination, while the general was visiting Iraq. Several international laws were violated by Trump’s order. Yet he has not been held accountable. But if he were to be arrested for this crime when traveling outside of the United States, the U.S. government would condemn the nation that arrested him, issue sanctions, and possibly invade. Yet the U.S. supports the arrests and incarceration of Iranian officials outside of their nations. This double standard is typical of the United States. It also shows that the U.S. remains powerful, despite its decreasing influence on the world stage, because the ICC has not charged Trump or any else in the former U.S. administration for the general’s murder.

JT: A while ago, the representatives of the Albanian government intrusively entered the camp of the MEK and fingerprinted the members of the entire camp to present the citizenship identity card. As you know, when a member enters the cult of MEK, he has to hand over all his identity cards to the superiors of the group from the first day, and he no longer has the right to take them back, and he somehow loses his identity. According to recent investigations, a large number of members of Camp Ashraf in Albania intend to flee the group but have avoided fleeing due to lack of identity documents, but now that new identity cards are being issued and due to electronic version of these identity cards, those documents can no longer be confiscated by the group. For this reason, a large number of people will be estimated to leave this cult. Now, considering this issue, how do you assess the future of the MEK if it loses a large part of its members?

RF: Reports indicate a great degree of dissatisfaction among members of the MEK. It is one thing to disagree with some policies of a government; it is another to want to violently overthrow it. U.S. officials often speak about any protest demonstrations that occur in Iran as indicating that the people there want a new form of government. Yet in the summer of 2020, when millions of people demonstrated in the streets of major U.S. cities across the country, these same officials didn’t see the situation quite the same way. Some MEK members disagree with some Iranian government policies; no government will ever exist that pleases all its citizens. But following their involvement in the MEK, and seeing the mental and physical manipulation that membership in it involves, the MEK’s numbers will likely see a substantial decrease now that electronic identity cards have been issued.

JT: As you know, Albania has been a safe haven for terrorists for several years, and it hosts ISIS, MEK, and other terrorist groups, and the Albanian government made separate camps formed for each of these groups. What do you think are the reasons why a country like Albania is willing to turn its country into a safe haven for US-backed terrorists?

RF: The reason is simple: the U.S. has ordered it to. When the MEK was forced to flee Iraq, the U.S. government forced Albania to accept its members. The U.S. wants its terrorists physically united so that when the U.S. government wants to mobilize them to destabilize some nation that refuses to do the binding of the U.S. or Israel, it can do so with ease.

JT: The MEK ceremonies are usually attended by former American political figures, who give speeches and receive large sums of money from this group. These speeches have been legal since 2012 due to the removal of the MEK from the list of terrorist organizations, but with the regard that the group has a history of killing six American advisers, does the community of political, cultural, and social elites tolerate the presence of their politicians in these ceremonies?

RF: This goes back to what I mentioned earlier, about the irrational hatred that U.S. government officials have for Iran. The Iranian people overthrew the brutal U.S. puppet, the Shah of Iran. The newly-formed government severed ties with the Zionist entity and has offered stalwart support for the Palestinian people. It must be remembered that it is very expensive to run a political campaign in the U.S., and many U.S. officials rely heavily on financial contributions from pro-Israel lobbies. So if Israel tells them to oppose the JCPOA and support brutal and illegal sanctions, they will do so. The lobbies, not the citizenry, are their constituencies, and it is from them, and not the voters, that they take their orders. The fact that the MEK is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens is not important to these people.

JT: As you know, the corruption case of some American figures has been investigated these days, and even the issue of the presence and receiving money by Rudy Giuliani from the group of MEK has been included in the case of his financial corruption, which is being investigated by the FBI. In another case, John Bolton attended and spoke at a time when the group was on a list of terrorist organizations, which is considered a crime under US law. Now the question arises that what are the motives of politicians to cooperate with American killers? Is it just about money or something else?

RF: It is partly money, but also partly ideology. Iran is a mainly Muslim country; there is a great amount of hostility towards Muslims by U.S. government officials. Also, many U.S. officials, especially those that have been appointed by the current president, or previous presidents, are avowed Zionists. They will, therefore, do whatever it is that Israel wants, and Israel seeks to be the only powerful nation in the Middle East. Its main competitor for that title is Iran.

Additionally, especially during the disastrous Trump administration, there were many members of the so-called Christian Right in positions of power; former vice-president Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were two among many. It must be remembered that the evangelical Christian movement has strayed so far from the teachings of Jesus Christ that he wouldn’t recognize them as Christian if he were to attend any of their meetings. These people support Israeli terrorism and see Islam as the arch-enemy of Christianity. I can assure you that that is not what true Christianity is about. Yet that is why many of these people embrace MEK and any and all enemies of the peaceful nation of Iran. This is a nation that hasn’t invaded another country since at least 1798; conversely, the U.S. has been at war for at least 227 years of its 245-year history, and most of those have been offensive, not defensive wars.

Officials of the U.S. government need to use diplomacy, and not discredited religious ideology in dealing with other nations in the world. This is a lesson they have yet to learn.

geopolitica.ru

November 27, 2021 0 comments

Iran

Don’t be duped by false reports of Mujahedin Khalq terrorists

Iran’s nuclear chief has advised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not to be duped by false reports concocted by a Europe-based terrorist group against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

“The Agency should not play into the hands of terrorist groups,” head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said in an interview with Sputnik News published on Thursday.

Eslami made the remarks when asked to comment on the IAEA chief’s call on Iran to explain the presence of uranium particles at several undeclared sites.

“This is once again one of the stories of the counterrevolutionary and terrorist group that is living in a safe haven in Europe and is financed by them and constantly influences the Agency by producing fake news,” he said, making a veiled reference to the anti-Iran Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), an Albania-based terrorist outfit.

He explained that the terrorist group hoodwinks the IAEA by showing fabricated papers, fake satellite images and false evidence as part of its threadbare tactics which have proved invalid.

Earlier this month, Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN atomic watchdog, called on Iran to provide explanations for the presence of uranium particles at several undeclared sites.

“I remain deeply concerned that nuclear material has been present at undeclared locations in Iran and that the current locations of this nuclear material are not known to the agency,” Grossi told the IAEA board of governors in Vienna on September 13.

Iran hit back at the time, voicing concerns over the “aggrandizing of few insignificant old issues” by the IAEA chief.

‘All countries entitled to peaceful nuclear energy’

Eslami said all countries are entitled to use up-to-date technology, especially in the field of nuclear energy.

He said under its Statute, the IAEA is obliged to encourage all countries to develop their nuclear energy projects and to assist them in using peaceful nuclear energy.

“Iran believes that all countries have the right [to use] nuclear energy and nuclear weapons must be banned for all countries,” the top nuclear official stressed.

In a veiled reference to Israel, which has questioned the peaceful nature of Iran’s program and threatened to target its nuclear facilities, Eslami said it is shocking that an entity that owns nuclear weapons and is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) raises such claims against Iran.

“The Iranian people do not welcome the language of force,” he said, “We have acted honestly and these hostilities will not affect the Iranian people and they have to realize that they must abandon this wrong approach and stop harming the interests of the Iranian people.”

The remarks came days after Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett claimed that Iran had crossed “all red lines” in its nuclear program and threatened to act alone if the world did not take action.

‘IAEA silence encourages terrorism’

Elsewhere during his interview, Eslami said due to mischievous and hostile acts against Iran by its enemies, the country’s nuclear program has been treated with a “political”, “selective”, and “discriminatory” approach.

He pointed out that the IAEA continues to have access to its surveillance cameras under the Safeguards Agreement, but added that Iran has decided to stop its “voluntary” implementation of the Additional Protocol by halting the Agency’s access to some of its cameras as a response to a gross non-compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement by the other parties.

“Iran had voluntarily accepted additional surveillance and the Additional [Protocol] in order to build trust and lift the sanctions,” he said, arguing that it would not make sense for Tehran to continue the implementation of the Additional Protocol after the US reimposition of sanctions on Tehran in 2018.

He made the remakes in response to a Sunday IAEA report that while Iran had granted access to its nuclear sites as agreed on September 12, it had prevented IAEA inspectors from visiting a workshop at the TESA Karaj complex, after it was targeted in a sabotage act in June in which one of four IAEA cameras was destroyed.

Iran has censured the IAEA for not condemning the “terrorist attack” at the complex, which Tehran has blamed on Israel. Iran has also blamed the Tel Aviv regime for another attack at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility in April.

“The Karaj site was attacked in a terrorist incident … and the Agency has not condemned the action. The site is being rebuilt and judicial and security authorities have opened a case on this site,” Eslami noted.

If they are truly law-abiding and sincere, the nuclear chief went on, “they have to acknowledge that the Agency’s failure to condemn a terrorist attack on an official [nuclear] site is a form of encouraging terrorism, which is regrettable.”

Eslami arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russia’s senior officials and discuss a new framework for accelerating the implementation of nuclear projects in Iran.

October 3, 2021 0 comments

Iran

MEK Invalidates Swedish Court

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde held talks on bilateral ties and regional issues, including the situation in Yemen and Afghanistan during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

During the meeting, held on Friday, the Swedish foreign minister referred to the 400-year history of the relations between the two countries. She praised the Iranian expatriates living in Sweden as well-educated and added that she has personally visited Iran.

Linde noted that Sweden seeks expansion of ties with Iran and proposed a meeting of the joint political committee of the two countries to be held in Tehran in the near future.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York

She also touched on the crisis in Yemen, saying her country is committed to help end the crisis. The top diplomat added that Sweden is in contact with all sides in Yemen and considers consultations with Iran in this regard as essential.

During the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister also said the volume of trade and economic ties between the two countries is currently not at a favorable level. Amirabdollahian called for measures to improve and upgrade trade exchanges between the two countries, including through facilitation of the ties between private sectors, establishment of direct flights and easing of travel between the two countries.

The top diplomat also stressed that the crisis in Yemen does not have any military solution, saying the human crisis should be addressed through lifting of the [Saudi-led] blockade.

He added that the conflict in Yemen is an unequal war in which the people of the country are targeted in acts of cowardice.

During the meeting, Amirabdollahian also mentioned the trial held for an Iranian national in Sweden. He said the MKO terror grouping is behind the fabricated case and the inhuman plot.

The foreign minister stressed that the court should pay attention to the fact that all evidence and allegations presented to the court, are fabricated by a group, which is known to engage in falsification and deceit. He said this demonstrates that the court process lacks validity and is politicized.

During the meeting, the two sides also exchanged views on the Afghan situation and the latest developments in the country.

September 28, 2021 0 comments

Albania

Albania and Iran’s dissident MEK: A marriage made in the US

Some 30 kilometres west from Albania’s capital Tirana, nestled between a mountain range and the Adriatic Sea, lies the town of Manëz.

With a population of roughly 7,000 and picturesque views in every direction, it is a typical Albanian town, save for one fact: it hosts Camp Ashraf-3, the base of Iranian dissident group known as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran.

Going by its Farsi acronym of MEK, the group has had a presence in Albania since at least 2013. In its heyday, it was one of the main groups struggling against the imperial regime in Iran, playing a major role in the 1979 revolution before falling out with the newly-established Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Khomeini.

Over time, the group’s significance diminished.

The Ashraf-3 base within the main destructive zone (map: USGS.gov)

Currently, roughly 3,000 members of MEK are estimated to live in Camp Ashraf-3, a heavily fortified compound. The camp’s perimeter is lined with Iranian flags and guarded by Albanian private security.

And although the group gets little mainstream attention, it has actively been courted by powers hostile to Iran, primarily the United States. MEK’s leader, Maryam Rajavi (wife of one of the group’s founders, Massoud Rajavi, presumed dead since 2003) has met with prominent US politicians such as Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton and the late John McCain. An annual conference hosted by the MEK in Paris regularly draws visitors from various right-wing European political parties.

Despite this support, the group has next to no credibility in Iran, according to Houchang Chahabi, an Iranian-born professor of international relations at Boston University.

“They have been politically irrelevant in Iran since at least the mid-1980s, and have little to no domestic support,” says Professor Chahabi.

This raises the question of why Albania of all countries would drag itself into one of the world’s most tense geopolitical standoffs, between the United States and Iran, by agreeing to host a tiny, fanatical armed group, which until 2012 was designated as a terrorist group by the United States and most of the European Union.

Now described by various sources as a cult, a cartel, a dangerous extremist group, the group’s presence may even represent a threat to Albanians.

From revolutionaries to cult

MEK was founded in the 1960s by radical students opposed to Shah Reza Pahlavi. With an ideology combining Shia Islamism with Marxism, throughout the 1970s the group staged dozens of often suicidal attacks on security forces, as well as targeting western-owned hotels, airlines and oil companies.

During the 1979 revolution, they were crucial in the final gun battles against the Shah’s police. However, it did not take long for things to sour between the various factions involved in the revolution. The Ayatollah Khomeini-led Islamist faction ended up seizing most of the political power.

Following massive street protests organised by the MEK, the Islamic Republic cracked down hard on the group, executing thousands of supporters and driving many to flee across the border to Iraq, where they were hosted and armed by Saddam Hussein.

Women fighters armed with AK-47s in the National Liberation Army of Iran stand at attention during a flag ceremony at Camp Ashraf,Wednesday Jan 29 1997, 110 kilometeres northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The fighters are dedicated to overthrowing the Islamic regime in Iran and installing a multi-party democracy. (AP PHoto/ Jassim Mohammmed)

Tens of thousands MEK members participated in the Iran-Iraq War, fighting alongside the Iraqi military which was indiscriminately bombing Iranian cities and using banned chemical weapons. This caused what credibility they had left in Iran – and clearly they used to have a lot, as evidenced by their massive support during the revolution and the post-revolutionary period – to dissipate.

An attempted incursion into Iran in 1988 by an 8,000-strong mechanised MEK force, at the closing stages of the Iran-Iraq War, ended in crushing defeat. The group began resembling more of a cult than a political party – the 1988 defeat was partially blamed on members being too distracted by “trivialities” like love, friendship and parenthood to be zealous enough fighters.

Throughout the 1990s, MEK helped Saddam Hussein brutally quell uprisings in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, implicating themselves in some horrendous atrocities, particularly against Kurds.

Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the MEK began piquing the interest of US hawks. It had toppled hostile regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan with ease, and the insurgencies which would end up bogging it down had yet to fully take off. It was widely believed that Iran would be the next country on the list – and the MEK looked like convenient on-the-ground partners.

However, events in Iraq took an unanticipated turn. The country’s post-Saddam government forged closer ties with Iran, particularly under the leadership of Nouri al-Maliki. Between 2009 and 2013, Iraqi security forces raided MEK compounds multiple times, killing over 100 members.

This alarmed the MEK’s western sponsors which began looking for alternative countries to base the group in. They reached out to several of their Eastern European partners, with Romania identified as an ideal location. However, only one country responded to the request positively: Albania.

MEK officially renounced violence and between 2013 and 2016, between three and five thousand members were relocated to Albania, with the help of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), overseen by the governments of Sali Berisha and Edi Rama.

Violation of sovereignty?

Few even within Albania know of MEK’s existence. Those that do have asked questions about the implications of hosting such a group: fears were raised that the presence of the MEK forces Albania to inherit a decades-long struggle between a major regional power in the Middle East and a terrorist group with cult-like characteristics, at the behest of the United States.

However, Professor Olsi Jazexhi, an Albanian historian and lecturer at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, believes that there is little immediate security threat to Albania as a result of the group’s presence.

“Iran has attacked MEK terrorists in the past in Iraq, however at present it cannot do anything against MEK in Albania. Albania is a NATO member country and its security is guaranteed by the Americans,” he says.

Dr Zijad Bećirović, director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies in Ljubljana agrees with this view.

“Iran does not attach much importance to this group. Albania is a member of NATO and Iran would not want to risk a confrontation,” Dr Bećirović tells Emerging Europe.

Leaked photos showing MEK members at work

This may be particularly true in light of how MEK renounced violence as a precondition of its relocation to Albania. Now, according to interviews conducted by The Guardian with MEK defectors, members spend most of their time posting propaganda comments on online forums demonising the Iranian government.

Furthermore, the group appears to have fallen far from its heyday as one of the trailblazers of the Iranian revolution to becoming something not unlike a cult.

Members are forced to divorce their spouses upon joining. Celibacy is strictly enforced, and daily, members have to confess their sexual urges in front of their peers. Dozens of women have allegedly been sterilised by the group’s doctors under false pretences, presumably to sever them from “distractions” such as raising children.

Dr Bećirović believes that the US clearly played a major role in bringing the group to Albania.

“Albania is a reliable ally of the United States. This was also shown in how Albania hosted prisoners of war from Afghanistan captured by the United States. It is quite certain that the MEK would not have come to Albania without the mediation or role of the United States.”

However, despite this, Bećirović acknowledges that Albania also has its own interests in hosting the MEK. “In this way, Albania strengthens its role in the region and international relations and its position with the United States and western allies.”

—

Others, like Olsi Jazexhi, see the whole situation as evidence of American hegemony over Albania.

“Albania today is ruled by the US embassy in Tirana. The embassy vets our politicians – like the Guardian Council in Iran – and it decides which politicians enter parliament or not. The hosting of MEK in Albania is not an Albanian affair, but an American-Israeli affair.”

However, lately, the MEK has been back on the Iranian government’s radar. In November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a senior official in Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, was assassinated. Some local news reports indicated that over 60 people were involved in the assassination.

Mohsen fakhrizade- iran nuclear scientists assassinated – israel – mek

Iranian government sources blamed the assassination on MEK, acting in conjunction with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. The unconfirmed reports of there being several dozen people involved in the operation indicate a high level of collusion between locals and the architects of the assassination. MEK has demonstrated its members’ zeal, fanaticism, and willingness to collaborate with enemies of Iran – it would not be preposterous to suggest that they may have played a part in the killing.

The incident also echoed how during a string of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists from the late 2000s to the early 2010s, the Iranian government persistently claimed the involvement of MEK sleeper cells.

Regardless of whether or not the MEK were involved in the assassinations, it is clear that they have been identified as the United States’ partner in Iran, should anything happen between the two countries.

This, however you slice it, means that the group is actively collaborating with a country that has been persistently hostile to Iran for over four decades.

And that means that as long as tensions remain between the US and Iran, MEK will continue to be useful to its patrons – meaning Albania will continue hosting them.

“Albania will continue to host the MEK paramilitary base on its soil for as long as the Americans need them to,” says Olsi Jazexhi.

“If one day the United States makes peace with Iran, MEK will be forgotten, dismantled, de-radicalised and its remaining members will finally live a peaceful civilian life. But for the time being they are useful and good terrorists which Albania must host.”

Unlike many news and information platforms, Emerging Europe is free to read, and always will be. There is no paywall here. We are independent, not affiliated with nor representing any political party or business organisation. We want the very best for emerging Europe, nothing more, nothing less. Your support will help us continue to spread the word about this amazing region.

Emerging-europe.com

August 14, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Quincy Institute: MEK, a proxy force for Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran

The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) has been documented as a main proxy force of the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia in their interventionist agendas in Iran, according to the new study published by Quincy Institute.

The new Quincy paper report on the controversies in the Middle East indicates that the instability in the region is not due to a sole ‘malign actor’. The report gives a qualitative and quantitative view of the region’s conflicts over the past 10 years. It shows several states to be interventionist to roughly the same degree.

According to the new research by Matthew Pettiis and Trita Parsi for the Quincy Institute, the reality of the interventionists in the middle east is complicated. Their new report, “No Clean Hands: The Interventions of Middle East Powers, 2010-2020,” looks at the last decade of conflict in the Middle East in which six states have shown themselves the most able to project armed power beyond their borders: Iran, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. “Iran is highly interventionist, but not an outlier,” they assert. “The other major powers in the region are often as interventionist as the Islamic Republic — and at times even more so. Indeed, the UAE and Turkey have surpassed Iran in recent years.”

The report also highlights the U.S. role is as “highly problematic”. “It is an active player in these regional interventions,” it reads. “In fact, five of the six most interventionist powers in the Middle East are armed by the United States — and also enjoy significant political support from Washington.”
The report investigates various aspects of interventions by the powers. They may include low-intensity intervention, proxy or remote warfare, combat troops on the ground and territorial conquest. A table has been planned by the authors to list each interventionist’s activities in certain countries in the region. The MEK has been mentioned in at least two cases.

President Trump and his good friends the Saudis (White House photo)

The MEK, has been used by Saudi Arabia in Iran since 1989 to date. “Multiple defectors from the Mojahedin-e Khalq, an armed Iranian opposition group, have gone on the record claiming that Saudi Arabia materially supports the group,” according to the report. “The MEK’s former head of security said that this relationship dates back to 1989 and included hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.”

The group was also a proxy force for Israel in the terror campaign against the Iranian nuclear scientists. Based on the Quincy report, Israel has been using the MEK operatives since 2007 to date. “Israel has cultivated relations with armed opposition groups in Iran,” Parsi and Pettiis state. “Two Obama administration officials confirmed that Israel had carried out the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in 2011 through 2012 through Mujahedin-e Khalq operatives, and a former official confirmed their claims in a separate report. The official added that the U.S. military trained the operatives on U.S. soil.”
Matthew Pettiis a researcher at the Quincy Institute and an investigative reporter at Responsible Statecraft. Before joining the Quincy Institute, he worked as a national security reporter for The National Interest and a freelance journalist.

Trita Parsi, Ph.D., is an award-winning author and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is an expert on U.S.–Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has authored three books on U.S. policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. He is the cofounder and former president of the National Iranian American Council.

August 3, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Further sanctions – no negotiations, MEK paid advocates insist

The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization terror group held a hybrid virtual and face-to-face meeting in Albania.

On Saturday, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group held a hybrid virtual and face-to-face meeting in Albania. Speakers joined via video conference from Europe and the US and the terror group’s sympathizers held gatherings in some European cities.

This is while the cult-like group had been on the EU and the US list of designated terror organizations for a long time.

The speakers agreed with the MKO on two issues: further sanctions against Iran and no negotiations with the country. Mike Pompeo, former US State Secretary under the Donald Trump administration, was the main speaker.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Report/PressTV/PressTV-MEK-Meeting-2021.mp4

to download the video file click here

Other speakers at the conference also defended the hardline anti-Iran policy. Stephen Harper, former Canadian Prime Minister, called negotiations with the Iranian government shameful. He went on to advocate a normalization policy with Israel.

Also, Franco Frattini, former European commissioner and foreign minister under former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, rejected any negotiations with Tehran.

The huge red carpet and military salutes would make even some state presidents jealous. That begs the question: What is the terror group doing in Albania?

The MKO backed former dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iraqi war on Iran. They were put on the list of terrorist organizations in 2000 and were declared persona non grata in Iraq in 2003. They then fled to Albania.

Experts say the MKO is a dangerous sectarian group, that was on the list of terrorist organizations. So it is strange to hear all these speakers express their full support for this group. It only shows the double standards of the European Union when it comes to terrorist groups.

Chris Den Hond , Paris

August 2, 2021 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts