An Iranian lawmaker says the US and certain political factions in Iraq seek to keep the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) near the country’s eastern borders with Iran.
“The US and certain Iraqi political factions are trying to keep the MKO near the country (Iraq)’s eastern borders in order to use them to pursue their own interests,” Mohammad Saleh Jowkar said on Sunday.
The US plans to use this group against the Iraqi nation and Iran, he added.
“The Baghdad government must firmly stand against the US and insist on the demand of the Iraqi nation for the MKO to leave the country,” the Iranian lawmaker said.
The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of the country’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
..in 1991, and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country’s north under Saddam’s dictatorship.
In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province to Camp Liberty – a former US military base near Baghdad International Airport.
Tehran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the terrorist group, but the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.