Page 213 – Nejat Society

Khashoggi killed for disclosing Saudi funding of anti-Iran TV channel: Guardian

Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed on October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, might have lost his life for disclosing Riyadh’s funding of an anti-Iran UK-based TV channel, the British daily Guardian suggests.

In a report on Oct. 2, the Guardian cited a source close to the Saudi government as saying that the anti-Iran London-based TV channel Iran International received an estimated $250m (£192m) from the Saudi royal court each year.

Now the Guardian correspondent, in a Friday tweet, has revealed that his source was Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was assassinated on the same day as the report was published in a premeditated murder in Turkey blamed on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also known as MBS.

A tweet message by Guardian reporter Saeed Kamali Dehghani regarding Khashoggi’s murder scheme

I can confirm that Jamal Khashoggi was killed because of speaking to me on the phone from Istanbul in the morning on 26 September, revealing that London-based Iran International TV was funded by Mohammad Bin Salman and Saud al-Qahtani. Read this: https://t.co/nlutbjywi3

— Saeed Kamali Dehghan (@SaeedKD) November 9, 2018

The Guardian correspondent, Saeid Kamali Dehghan, later posted tweets that suggested he felt threats to his safety.

“My request to all family and friends is not to contact me at this moment, except very trusted one. My mum knows how to contact me. I trust my mum and a few people here,” he said in the tweet. However, he later deleted all his tweets regarding the case.

Iran’s Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad praised the Guardian correspondent in a tweet and warned about the “risks” which he may encounter.

“Mr. Kamali Dehghan, the Guardian correspondent, confirmed in a brave step that Khashoggi had revealed before his death to him information about the establishment of the Persian-language ‘Iran International’ network by Saudi authorities,” he wrote.

“The relevant authorities are aware of possible risks to Mr. Kamali and the embassy is also in contact with them,” Baeidinejad added.

Last month, the Guardian also reported that the Iran International was being funded through a secretive offshore entity and a company whose director was a Saudi Arabian businessman with close links to bin Salman.

The source told the Guardian that Saud al-Qahtani, who served as media adviser to MBS and was among several senior officials removed in connection with Khashoggi’s murder, was involved in the funding of Iran International.

“It is money coming from the royal court,” the source – now revealed to be Khashoggi – said, when speaking about the Saudi crown prince.

Earlier this summer, the Iran International came under fire for praising a terrorist attack in Iran’s Ahvaz and broadcasting live coverage of a rally by the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

At the time, the Guardian took note of Press TV’s complaint that the Western and Saudi media were refraining from terming the deadly attack as a terrorist act despite the large number of civilian casualties in the incident.

Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of bin Salman, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, but never came back.

The Saudi kingdom, after denying the murder for several days, finally admitted that Khashoggi had been murdered in the consulate during an interrogation by rogue operatives that had gone wrong after diplomatic pressure grew tremendously on Riyadh to give an account on the mysterious fate of its national.

However, Saudi Arabia said that it did not know the whereabouts of the body, which is widely believed to have been dismembered.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later announced the assassination had been ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government.

November 11, 2018 0 comments

Albania

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

A recent report from The Guardian has uncovered systematic human rights abuse in the Albanian camp of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a former Iranian terrorist organization exiled from Iraq to Albania. As Exit has reported over the last years, multiple high-ranking US politicians have visited the MEK in Albania, as US administration’s interest in overturning the Iranian regime have grown.

The article in The Guardian reveals that members of the MEK have started to defect, many of whom end up in Tirana on their way to emigrate to EU countries or the US. These defectors have reported continuous human rights abuses within the Albanian MEK camp:

[T]he move from Iraq to the relative safety of Albania has precipitated a wave of defections. Those with means have fled the country to the EU and the US, but around 120 recent MEK escapees remain in Tirana with no right to work or emigrate. I spoke to about a dozen defectors, half of whom are still in Albania, who said that MEK commanders systematically abused members to silence dissent and prevent defections – using torture, solitary confinement, the confiscation of assets and the segregation of families to maintain control over members. […]

The testimony of these recent defectors follows earlier reports from groups such as Human Rights Watch, which reported former members witnessed “beatings, verbal and psychological abuse, coerced confessions, threats of execution and torture that in two cases led to death.”

The MEK camp appearsto fall “beyond the jurisdiction of the Albanian police”:

Ylli Zyla, who served as head of Albanian military intelligence from 2008 to 2012, accused the MEK of violating Albanian law. “Members of this organisation live in Albania as hostages,” he told me. Its camp, he said, was beyond the jurisdiction of Albanian police and “extraordinary psychological violence and threats of murder” took place inside.

The Albanian government, meanwhile, turns a blind eye to the human rights abuses on its territory, hoping that hosting the MEK will give them leverage over the US government:

Olsi Jazexhi, a professor of history at the University of Durres critical of the government’s decision to accept the MEK fighters, says that Albanian politicians hoped the deal would lead the US to turn a blind eye to their own corruption. “The MEK is a card which gives them leverage with the United States,” he said. “They think that by taking the MEK, the Americans will leave their business alone.”

Full protection of human rights is one of the five key conditions for opening EU accession negotiations. It seems that, once again, the Albanian government fails to honor its obligations in that regard.

Exit, Explaining Albania,

Albanian Government Turns Blind Eye to Human Rights Abuse in MEK Camp

November 11, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

THE US-BACKED CULT TO RULE IRAN

Fresh sanctions roll out to “put pressure” on Tehran. THESE are the freaks they want instead.

Regime change in Iran has been a US objective for decades. And as is typical with all US regime change schemes America has nurtured a group of exiles to replace the current Iranian government should they succeed in overthrowing it. While America’s chosen regime change exiles for a given country are typically right-wing reactionaries, American’s Iranian replacement goes a step further. it is a straight up CULT. They call themselves the Mojahedin-e Khalq or the MEK. …

Soapbox,

November 6, 2018 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 247

++ Maryam Rajavi has spoken! Based on what John Bolton said at the Villepinte rally in Paris last year – that the overthrow of the Iranian government will not take 40 years – Rajavi told her people to “wait, don’t leave, Bolton knows something!” This has caused something of a dilemma for Rajavi since the 40th anniversary is fast approaching and there is not a sign of Iran falling. Apparently, John Bolton was wrong.

++ MEK operatives have started following ex members in Tirana, harassing them, throwing things at them in the street, swearing at them. The message they give is ‘if anyone leaves, this is what we will do to you’. MEK is putting maximum pressure on formers and is trying to prevent the families helping them. MEK is contacting officials to persuade and bribe them to ensure no visas are given to families to visit Albania to help ex members or members. MEK uses the old propaganda line that ‘families want to kill us’.

++ Over the last few days, many members have left and have begun talking. This is a new development since people didn’t usually talk before. MEK is facing a serious crisis. In the last two weeks, Ali Hajeri, Mousa Damroudi, Mohammad Azim Mishmast, Gholamali Mirzaei, Hassan Shahbazi and several others who have recently left MEK have been writing – about themselves and their experiences, about conditions in the camp and about why they had to run away.

In English:

++ Robert Fantina, Counter Punch – ‘Trump, Saudi Arabia and the Khashoggi Murder’: “U.S. spokespeople have praised the Mujahedin-E Khalq organization (MEK), which is responsible for thousands of deaths in Iran since 1979, and is now active outside that country, attempting to foment the overthrow of the government. The U.S. would be only too happy to see them succeed, and turn Iran into the chaos and disaster that Iraq and Yemen are today.”

++ Giovanni Glacalone, Cliocchidella Guerra, Rome, Italy – ‘The fortified headquarters of Iranian Mojahedin Khalq in Albania’ (Google translation): “In conclusion: What is the Mek then? A group of dissidents and persecuted by the Iranian regime? A sectarian force of opposition composed of militarily trained elements ready to overthrow the regime? A terrorist organization? (According to what was stated by Tehran). Where do the Mek funding come from?

“In geopolitics it is known that an organization can be considered “terrorist” or “resistance movement” based on the interests of those who support it and have seen it with many other organizations, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Hizbullah, from the PLO to the “resistance” “Syrian. What is certain is that it is difficult to combat terrorism when we cannot even find a universally shared definition of the term.

“Meanwhile, however, the presence in Albania of the Mek does nothing but further aggravate the delicate situation in the Balkans where jihadist and Islamist groups are already present. The Balkan area seems more and more a logistics and transit area in support of the war policies in the Middle East and all this at the expense of regional stability, Italy included.”

++ Daniel Larison, The American Conservative – ‘The Fanaticism of the MEK’s Cheerleaders’: “No matter what one thinks our Iran policy should be, the MEK is not a credible alternative to the current government. Seeking regime change in Iran is folly, but to promote an obnoxious cult as the answer to Iran’s problems is simply insanity. In addition to being a nasty cult, the group is responsible for killing Americans in the 1970s and aligned itself with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war. Iranians understandably view them as traitors. Anyone who is cheerleading for the MEK is advertising both his ignorance of Iran and his hostility to the Iranian people.”

++ Iran Press – ‘Zarif: Mossad wants to chill expanding Iran-Europe relations’: “Bahram Ghasemi also commented on Iran-EU relations on Wednesday October 31, when he said: ‘Whenever relations between Iran and the European Union begin to expand, invisible hands taking their cue from certain countries go to work, trying to harm these relations. Thus, the Danish government’s accusations against Iran, and recalling of Denmark’s ambassador from Tehran can all be looked upon from this angle’.”

++ Saeed Kamali Dehghan, The Guardian – ‘Concern over UK-based Iranian TV channel’s links to Saudi Arabia’: “Earlier this summer, the station was criticised for airing extensive live coverage of a rally by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), a cult-like organisation that espouses regime change and has links to Saudi Arabia. Senior Trump administration officials, including John Bolton, are advocates of the group, which was listed as a terrorist group in the US until 2012.

“The insider claimed the editorial content of the station had been influenced by its secret investors who were hidden behind an offshore Cayman Islands company. The MEK coverage, the insider said, was one such example.”

++ Will Conroy, Intellinews – ‘Bully boy Trump mocks Iranians with ‘GoT’ economic winter meme’: “Game of Thrones producer HBO responded to Trump’s use of its imagery by saying it ‘would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes’.

“Some things require little analysis. Let’s just ask what kind of a jerk would take pleasure in mimicking a Game of Thrones advertising campaign — ‘Sanctions Are Coming, November 5’— in a way that will have the effect of menacing ordinary Iranians with the prospect of more economic misery.

“And let’s be done with it, for the plain fact is that on November 2, without giving any guarantees for supplies of basic foods and medicine, Donald J. Trump announced that in three days’ time all US sanctions removed under the 2015 nuclear deal would be reimposed on Iran.”

++ Faryad Azadi, Tirana, Albania – ‘Over 50 survivors of Mojahedin Khalq write to UNHCR’ (Google translate) : “In an unprecedented move, without any financial or administrative backing, the UN Commissioner in coordination with the PMOI and Maryam Rajavi has announced to the people they left this cult in Albania that they will cut off all assistance to these asylum seekers from the beginning of the New Year. And the responsibility will be with Albanian government. While these people do not have any legal qualifications and, given the situation in the Albania, there is no possibility of work or visit their family, many of these people they are old and more than 55 years old and they are not able to work and during the past years they were with this cult all of them have physical problems and they have been subjected to psychological torture also they have many mental problems and they need special attention.”

++ Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian dot com – ‘Mossad To Use Mercenary MEK For Fatal False Flag Op In Albania’: “The logical conclusion would be the creation of a false flag operation involving an attack on MEK members in Albania (outside the European Union so that it cannot be thwarted or investigated) which leaves some dead, and which can be blamed on Iran. Rajavi would be happy to fulfil this order since this would fill the bank of the “blood of martyrs” as she calls the MEK’s sacrifices. It would also motivate the disaffected members who are regularly leaving the cult – last week alone 6 people managed to escape. With this in mind, Maryam Rajavi’s meetings with Israeli agents in the International Hotel in Tirana would indicate that a fatal event is imminent.”

November 02, 2018

November 5, 2018 0 comments

UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Over 50 survivors of Mojahedin Khalq write to UNHCR

Open letter from 50 separated members and freed critics of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran

New criminal act against refugees in Albania Mariam Rajavi’s criminal act to eliminate opponents they left that organization. In an unprecedented move, without any financial or administrative backing, the UN Commissioner in coordination with the PMOI and Maryam Rajavi has announced to the people they left this cult in Albania that they will cut off all assistance to these asylum seekers from the beginning of the New Year. And the responsibility will be with Albanian government. While these people do not have any legal qualifications and, given the situation in the Albania, there is no possibility of work or visit their family, many of these people they are old and more than 55 years old and they are not able to work and during the past years they were with this cult all of them have physical problems and they have been subjected to psychological torture also they have many mental problems and they need special attention. After these years they have been past they are not able to do their job and many of them need surgery. It should be noted that , Maryam Rajavi, who has signed a contract with the Commissioner and the Albanian government, stated that, this organization and the people they will leave them ,they never ask to change their status as asylum, and they will be in this country as a humanitarian situation According to the contract, it is the responsibility of the organization to pay the financial support to these people until they are in this country. But on the basis of this disgraceful agreement, Maryam Rajavi, in her effort to eliminate these people, is trying to strike all the ways ahead of life front of these people in order to create fear between her forces, in the same way, she is trying to cut off their money. The cost of living these people, while all living expenses include the rent of the house and pay for electricity and water, they must pay for everything while they haven’t any sources for get money. These costs are paid to these people at the lowest level and under conditions , they must do mercenaries for this organization, and are trying to get news about their friends and their families to the organization to make daily feeds to people they live with organization for making fear between them. During these years, despite the fact that according to the contract they must be paid by the organization, but this organization minimized it in with two steps, and Ministry of Interior of Albania and the UNHR based in Albania also the US government, which was a party to the deal closed their eyes against MKO after the interruption. And now, another conspiracy has been arranged by this organization, the UNHCR announced to these people they left them, from the beginning of the new year, the UNHCR will cut their supports, no medical support no any help, even the medical counseling they have been given to them because of the psychological and psychological pressures they have been inflicted during the years they have been with this organization over past years. Unfortunately, it should be added that in all references to the Ministry of Interior and the High Commissioner of Refugees to receive this contract, both party aren’t accountable and in a coordinated manner, they play with these people. It should be to mention that the organization has signed an agreement with the Albanian government to complete this conspiracy, the Albanian government doesn’t allow any family from Iran to come to Albania to visit their children, and this has also been reported by the UNHCR, this organization and Albanian government trying to isolate them here until they die. These people by wrote protesting letter to the UNHCR in Geneva, wrote their concern their right has defaced by this organization and Albanian government, but unfortunately did not receive any response to their demands. We are demand all the human rights activists want to be our voice and transmit our voice to the world and social networks and press. Because we are imprisoned here in Albania and all the roads are closed to us and we know what these are because of Rajavi, she doesn’t want anybody leave them so the only way is to kill all of us or forced us to leave this country by illegally way, but we will pay price to be free and reach our rights and we never give up and do what Maryam Rajavi wants and we don’t scare of this organization and what they are doing against us and we will face their threat. The world is not without justice, and there will be people to be our voice and reach it to all of world. Thank you in advance for all your work

Separated members and critics of the PMOI.

Faryad Azadi, Tirana, Albania,

November 5, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mossad To Use Mercenary MEK For Fatal False Flag Op In Albania

On October 30, Denmark claimed that Iran had sent intelligence agents to assassinate the leader of the Danish branch of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA). Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen robustly denounced the alleged plot as “totally unacceptable” and Denmark’s foreign ministry said it would urge other European countries to impose sanctions on Iran. The plot was apparently revenge for the terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz Iran in September in which 29 people were killed. Iran however said it had already tracked down and killed ISIS operatives in Syria and Iraq which it blamed for the massacre. This prompts the question, why Iran would commit a further act of violence in Europe at a time when President Rouhani is on a diplomatic mission to persuade European leaders to maintain the JCPOA and resist following America in imposing sanctions?

According to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Mossad tipped off Denmark’s security and intelligence agency about the assassination plot. But this was only the latest in a series of similar alleged plots this year aimed at implicating Iran. In June on the eve of a visit by President Rohani to France, a bomb plot aimed at the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) cult was also blamed on Iranian intelligence. Two of the plotters were subsequently found to have long term links with the MEK. Again, Mossad had given intelligence to the Belgians who made arrests. Again, the unanswered question is why would Iran do anything to jeopardise relations with Europe and threaten continuation of the JCPOA?

“Two of the plotters were subsequently found to have long term links with the MEK.”

Iran’s accusers have failed to explain this discrepancy. Reuters fantastically wrote: “Apparently, Iran is working hard behind the scenes to disrupt its relations with Europe.” Similarly, the Wall Street Journal, which ran a series of articles specifically on this issue, was unable to come up with a plausible explanation saying only that “The allegation that an Iranian operative plotted an attack on French soil is jeopardizing Europe’s support for the accord.” Again, why would this serve Iran’s interest? Perhaps then we must turn attention to these accusers to explain what is going on.

Earlier in March, Albanian police detained two Iranian journalists at a cultural event in Tirana. This time it was the MEK which falsely claimed Iran had sent agents to kill members of their group whose base is 30 kilometres away. The men had come to celebrate Nowruz at the invitation of the Bektashi’s World Chief Baba Mondi, on regular visas issued by the Albanian consulate in Turkey. The police subsequently apologised to the men and the Baba Mondi for the mistake. But even then the Albanian media was warning of false flag opsinvolving MEK.

A pattern emerges in all three cases: based on intelligence from Mossad the alleged assassination target – an anti-Iran, pro-West group – is identified, European security is quick to act, suspects are arrested, Reuters breaks the news, Iranian intelligence agents are implicated, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately condemns Iran and his statements are further broadcast by American media, Iran denies any involvement, the WSJand other media embellish the story with imaginative detail of the individuals involved. Knowing that MEK leader Maryam Rajavi is among these accusers allows a clearer interpretation of events.

In the days leading up to the arrest in Denmark, Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) cult leader Maryam Rajavi held clandestine meetings with Israeli agents in the International Hotel in Tirana. Her presence in Albania provides a key to unlocking the mystery surrounding the plots allegedly involving Iranian intelligence accused of plotting to kill enemies on European soil.

As the MEK’s de facto leader, Rajavi’s role is to provide services to her backers – a virulently anti-Iran cabal from the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia – through the slave labour of MEK members. Rajavi receives funds to keep her group functioning but does not pass this money on to the members who do the work. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein the demands on MEK have changed. The cult’s new benefactor Prince Turki al-Faisal who made his presence felt at their Villepinte propaganda event in June 2016, is a former Intelligence chief. The MEK of Saddam/Massoud Rajavi which was overwhelmingly military/terrorist has now been replaced by the MEK of Turki/Maryam and is overwhelmingly intelligence/terrorist. MEK’s history of clandestine, intelligence-led activity is now being exploited. Rajavi is motivated by the survival of her cult. She will do whatever necessary to ensure the group does not disintegrate. As these authors explained in a previous article, MEK has a long history of self-serving bloodshed to boost morale and prevent further defections.

“In this context the MEK’s orders are clear; set up a situation to blame on Iran.”

In this context the MEK’s orders are clear; set up a situation to blame on Iran. There is precedence. In Iraq, from one year ahead of the controversial attack on Camp Ashraf which left 53 dead, MEK were shouting ‘Iran wants to kill us’. Iraqi investigators were not allowed to interview MEK survivors of the attack. Then later, in Albania, Malik Sharai, a witness to those events, was eliminated. Ex-members said he was about to leave the group. Similarly, while in Camp Liberty, MEK leaders began to cry victimhood days before a missile attack on the base which they blamed on Iran. Iraqi investigators found no link with Iran.

With this background, if it is remembered that MEK members are expendable, that their role is to sacrifice their lives, the stark conclusion is that fatalities will follow. And if the alleged plots by Iran which Foreign Minister Zarif describes as an “Incredible series of coincidences. Or, a simple chronology of a Mossad program to kill the JCPOA”, fail to drive a wedge between Iran and Europe, then clearly more drastic measures will be needed. Something that would force Europe to react against Iran. The logical conclusion would be the creation of a false flag operation involving an attack on MEK members in Albania (outside the European Union so that it cannot be thwarted or investigated) which leaves some dead, and which can be blamed on Iran. Rajavi would be happy to fulfil this order since this would fill the bank of the “blood of martyrs” as she calls the MEK’s sacrifices. It would also motivate the disaffected members who are regularly leaving the cult – last week alone 6 people managed to escape. With this in mind, Maryam Rajavi’s meetings with Israeli agents in the International Hotel in Tirana would indicate that a fatal event is imminent.

By Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com,

November 5, 2018 0 comments

Maryam Rajavi

What is Maryam Rajavi doing in Albania?

Since the relocation of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) in Albania, the co-leader Maryam Rajavi has traveled from Paris to Tirana several times. She usually travels to Tirana for especial occasions such as New Year’s celebration or to receive the paid American supporters of the group who are invited to the base. One instance was Senator John McCain who visited Maryam Rajavi in the group’s base in Tirana in April 2017.

According to the insiders of the MKO, Maryam Rajavi is once more in Tirana but it seems that this time the trip has a different reason. She is residing at International Hotel, Tirana where she holds meetings with commanders and senior members of the group.

What has driven her to the group’s base in Albania and stay there for a long period of time? She might have found it vital to reorganize her group in the absence of her disappeared husband Massoud Rajavi.

The major reason might be the increasing number of defection from the group. During the past week, at least three ex-members of the group officially announced their disassociation from the MKO and declared their readiness to denounce its abusive and violent nature. Azim MishMast, GholamAli Mirzaiee and Musa Damrudi are the most recently defected ones. All of the three were among the longstanding members of the group who left it after at least three decades.

These are just a few examples of those who officially declared their defection. Definitely, the number of defectors are far more than what is broadcasted in the media. Once the MKO was resettled in Albania, the situation became safer for defectors compared with Iraq where most members were terrified by the leaders for what they called the influence of the Iranian regime—however, hundreds of members of the MKO left the group in Iraq, especially after the disarmament of the group by the US military in 2003.

After the relocation in Albania, a large number left the group secretly and in silence. Zeinab Hosseinnejad whose father Ghorbanali had left the group a few years earlier, could manage to leave the MKO and move to Greece. Her defection was not covered in the media until last week that her sister Mona and her father travelled to Greece to visit her. The tragic videos of the reunion of the Hosseinnejads after so many years of separation was widely viewed in the social media.

Today, Maryam Rajavi’s primary struggle is the preservation of members inside the cult-like structure of the group. As she tries to convince members to stay in the organization, her so-called struggle for freedom and democracy makes no sense.

In fact, while she uses the group’s propaganda tribunes to boast of her riot units (or the so-called resistance units) in Iran, she actually is fighting the resistance units that has been established by the suppressed members inside her group.

An insider from the group has revealed that long-time manipulative meetings are organized in the group’s headquarters in Manez Durres in North of Tirana. The MKO’s secretary General Zahra Merikhi runs the sessions in which she accuses members for not being enough dedicated to the cult jargon “Cleansing on the Scene”.

Cleansing on the Scene includes self-disclosure of sexual thoughts. Members have to disclose all their sexual thoughts and desires before their peers and peers, in their turn, are tasked with verbally abusing them. This is a process of cleansing to win the struggle against Iranian regime, according to the leaders of the MKO.

The prominent paid supporter of the MKO John Bolton promised the overthrow of the Islamic Republic before 2019, in a paid speech at the group’s rally in July 2017. Now, there are only two months left to the promised moment. The group leaders have to endeavor a big challenge to keep the members in order to prevent the collapse of their establishment, let alone the overthrow of the Iranian Government.

Mazda Parsi

November 4, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

IRAN BLOG: Bully boy Trump mocks Iranians with ‘GoT’ economic winter meme

Game of Thrones producer HBO responded to Trump’s use of its imagery by saying it”would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes”.

Some things require little analysis. Let’s just ask what kind of a jerk would take pleasure in mimicking a Game of Thrones advertising campaign—“Sanctions Are Coming, November 5”—in a way that will have the effect of menacing ordinary Iranians with the prospect of more economic misery.

And let’s be done with it, for the plain fact is that on November 2, without giving any guarantees for supplies of basic foods and medicine, Donald J. Trump announced that in three days’ time all US sanctions removed under the 2015 nuclear deal would be reimposed on Iran.

The referencing of the fantasy TV series’ meme—“Winter Is Coming”—which the HBO TV network and stars of the hit show immediately objected to occurred as the US president warned the Islamic Republic was about to face”the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed on Iran”with the existing sanctions targeting to be expanded to include the country’s oil, gas, petrochemicals, shipping and banking sectors.

The one concession was that eight countries—which various news agency reports said would include Turkey, India, Italy, Japan and South Korea—would not be penalised by the US for continuing to import Iranian oil, although they would be expected to gradually reduce shipments to zero.

According to the IMF, the US sanctions campaign has already plunged Iran into recession, and one might think that a civilised nation would need to form some kind of international consensus before subjecting a country of 81mn people to such distress. But Washington, aside from the vocal support it receives from a few allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, is going it alone. The other five major powers that signed the nuclear accord that is supposed to shield Iran from crippling sanctions—France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China—have stayed in the agreement, pointing out that the Iranians remain in full compliance with its measures restricting the Iranian nuclear development programme.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the Trump administration might ease up on Iran a little when the campaigning fever dissolves after the November 6 US midterm elections, but don’t count with it. On November 2, it also emerged that European governments have so far failed to persuade the White House to ensure Iran will remain able to take delivery of basic foods and medicine after the imposition of the blanket sanctions.

“Thousands of patients… at risk”

“There’s no doubt that the lives of thousands of patients will be at risk,” Ahmad Ghavideh of Iran’s haemophilia society told the Guardian by phone from Tehran after the newspaper discovered that the UK, French and German ambassadors to the US made joint visits to the American Treasury and State Departments in September in an unsuccessful effort to persuade the administration to produce a “white list”. Such a list would give clear guidelines on what channels European banks and companies should follow to conduct legitimate transactions with Iran without fear of future penalties.

Humanitarian supplies are officially exempted from the sanctions, but risk-averse foreign banks and companies have in the past steered clear of all transactions with Iran for fear of being penalised. Severe shortages of life-saving medicines and food staples were experienced by the country in the years preceding the 2015 agreement endorsed by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.

“We are expecting our American friends to make some gestures on humanitarian goods,” Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to Washington was quoted by the newspaper report as saying. “Of course humanitarian goods are not sanctioned. But the fact is the banks are so terrified of sanctions that they don’t want to do anything with Iran. It means that in a few months, there is a strong risk that there will be shortage of medicine in Iran if we don’t do something positive.”

Official line

The official line from the Trump administration is that this toughest ever sanctions assault has not been engineered to deliver regime change in Iran, but it’s common knowledge among diplomats that White House National Security Advisor and uber-hawk John Bolton believes the regime will collapse.

That, however, is highly debatable. US officials spend a lot of time making the case that the Iranian people are biding their time awaiting outside assistance that will enable the toppling of the powers that be. But if great swathes of the population are so deeply unhappy with the system—a parliamentary democracy vetted and supervised by a theocracy headed by an unelected supreme leader—why is it that the Iranians show such immense enthusiasm come general election time (in the May 2017 poll, centrist and pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected with a landslide on a turnout of more than 70%)?

Indeed, so out of touch with the feelings of ordinary Iranians is the Trump regime (apologies for that slip of the key) that its Iran strategy has even included aligning with the cult-like Islamic-Socialist Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK). The MeK has no support of significance in Iran. It is a fringe group which lost out on the spoils after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and achieved deep unpopularity among the Iranian people by taking Iraq’s side in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. The last most people had heard of it before Trump’s surrogates started appearing at its rallies was that it had gone into exile in Albania.

Whipping boy

But why dwell on such distractions? One thing is clear right now and that is that Iran has become America’s number one whipping boy (the egregious sins of other players in the Middle East, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, be damned) and it has a bully pulpit list of 12 demands from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it must comply with—or else.

The list—which is in fact by design clearly a non-starter for Iran—includes tighter restrictions on nuclear and ballistic missile development and the reversal of decades of foreign policy underpinned by financial and logistical support for US-designated terrorist groups and regional allies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias instrumental in defeating ISIS in Iraq, Houthi rebels in Yemen and President Bashar Assad in Syria.

In Washington’s eyes, even though Iran is in the Middle East it is not allowed to defend its interests in the Middle East. Perhaps it should start taking more of an interest in Venezuela? “They are maximalist demands and no Iranian government would be willing or able to accept them,” Robert Einhorn, a former US official now at the Brookings Institution, told Reuters on November 1.

Trump wants Iran’s government to capitulate or collapse, Einhorn reportedly added, saying: “They are not going to knuckle under. But if the administration began to signal some flexibility … it’s possible the Iranian regime would agree to enter into talks.”

EU’s collective resolve “unwavering”

On November 2, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a joint statement with the British, French and German foreign ministers in which they stated how they “deeply regret” the reimposition of the US sanctions and would continue working on ways of keeping legitimate trade with Iran going.

“Our collective resolve to complete this work is unwavering,” the statement added.

President Rouhani, while pledging that Iran will show resilience, patriotic spirit and ingenuity in resisting the US economic attack, has also spent the past couple of days bracing Iranians for hard times. The Iranian lira has already collapsed and runaway inflation is taking hold. “I cannot even buy rice to feed my children or pay my rent,” elementary school teacher Pejman Sarafnejad, 43, a father of three in Tehran, was quoted by Reuters as saying on November 2.

Unmistakably, the immediate horizon looks perilous for Iran, but while Trump may have the whip-hand at this moment in time, analysts question whether, longer term, the US will emerge the victor having shown such disparaging disdain for multilateralism.

The sanctions, runs the theory, have potentially opened the way for a historic change in the global financial system. If Europe succeeds in creating a financial mechanism for trade with Iran that is separate from the US dollar, other states can start using euros for trade with the Iranians, dealing a blow to US domination of global markets.

Not only that, but Trump’s scorning of international agreements such as the painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal might prompt a shift in international power politics, with other major nations moving for a switch from an American-led system to a multi-polar world. Trump might end up laughing on the other side of his face. At that point, of course, he should be presented with a courtesy copy of Game of Thrones for Dummies.

By Will Conroy in Prague ,intellinews.com

November 3, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

The Fanaticism of the MEK’s Cheerleaders

Rudy Giuliani shills for the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) again:

We strongly support the largest and most organized Iranian opposition, known as the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK).

The MEK has no support inside Iran, and it has scant support among Iranians in the diaspora. They cannot be the “largest” opposition group when they have virtually no supporters outside the ranks of their own totalitarian cult, and it doesn’t mean anything to say that a cult is organized. Giuliani’s lame argument that the MEK must be powerful and influential because the Iranian government hates them doesn’t pass the laugh test. The Iranian government perceives the MEK as their enemy for obvious reasons, but it doesn’t follow that Iranians want to have anything to do with them. Legitimate opponents of the Iranian government hold this group and its Western fans in contempt, and most Iranians don’t desire the regime change that Western Iran hawks and the MEK seek.

Giuliani is just one of many former American officials and retired officers to embarrass and discredit themselves by advocating for the MEK, but he is also one of the most vocal. As the president’s lawyer, he has access to Trump and may be able to influence him on matters relating to Iran, and his fellow MEK booster John Bolton would have no problem with that. It is a measure of how ideological and fanatical many Iran hawks are that they have cultivated a relationship with such an appalling organization.

No matter what one thinks our Iran policy should be, the MEK is not a credible alternative to the current government. Seeking regime change in Iran is folly, but to promote an obnoxious cult as the answer to Iran’s problems is simply insanity. In addition to being a nasty cult, the group is responsible for killing Americans in the 1970s and aligned itself with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war. Iranians understandably view them as traitors. Anyone who is cheerleading for the MEK is advertising both his ignorance of Iran and his hostility to the Iranian people.

By Daniel Larison ,Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

November 1, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK Sources of funds are Iran’s regional rivals: ex-CIA official

Professor Paul Pillar, who was CIA intelligence analyst for 28 years, tells the Tehran Times that “A rationale for removing the MEK from the U.S. terrorism list was that in recent years the group has not been involved in killing Americans.”

Pillar says terrorist group is still a terrorist group even if the blood it spills is not American blood. The MEK certainly has been involved in lethal political violence since 2009.

He also adds that “The sources of funds always have been unclear. The most likely sources are states that are regional rivals of Iran.”

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Why Obama administration removed Mujahedin-e Khalq from a U.S. terrorism list and Trump administration seriously support of this terrorist group. Why?

A: This is not the first time–nor will it be the last–that decisions to add or remove groups from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations have reflected politics and policy and have not been the result of an objective examination of the nature of the group. The MEK’s removal from the list came after a prolonged and well-financed lobbying campaign that succeeded in swaying politicians in both major parties, including many who have at most only slight knowledge of what the MEK has done.

Q: Trump administration support terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) as a democratic alternative to the current Iranian political system. Why Trump administration support a group that have not any social base among Iranians and Iranian know them as a terrorist group?

A: The Trump administration’s policy toward Iran consists of using every any means available to hurt and pressure Iran, while paying little attention to the nature of the means used or to the negative effects of using them. Although some of the administration’s rhetoric sounds as if greater democracy in Iran is one of its objectives, democracy plays little role in the administration’s decisions–as indicated, for example, by its strong siding with the regime in Saudi Arabia, which is decidedly non-democratic. If the MEK is opposed to the current political order in Tehran, that’s all that matters to the Trump administration.

Q: As you mentioned in your article in LobeLog many activities of Mujahedin-e Khalq need much money. Which countries or group may help to them?

A: The sources of funds always have been unclear. The most likely sources are states that are regional rivals of Iran.

Q: Mujahedin-e Khalq ideology is mixture of a version of Islam and Marxism. They also operate as a terrorist group. Why U.S. as a leading democratic country in the world support such a group? This is controversial when we consider that foreign policy according to the liberalism is the continuation of domestic policy and U.S. domestic policy is based on free values and liberalism. How U.S. government solve this contradiction?

A: The Trump administration clearly is not worrying about such things, because it has given ample other indications that it gives little importance to such values in conducting foreign relations. This became quite clear recently with its reaction to the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, in which President Trump in effect said that such a murder can be excused as long as the Saudis buy U.S. weapons.

Q: According to the RAND report, Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist activities have continued by 2009. But U.S. acclaimed that there are no terrorist activity by this group in 10 last years ago. Which one is right?

A: A rationale for removing the MEK from the U.S. terrorism list was that in recent years the group has not been involved in killing Americans. The law governing the list could be construed that way, although more often, decisions on listing and delisting are not made from such a narrow perspective. A terrorist group is still a terrorist group even if the blood it spills is not American blood. The MEK certainly has been involved in lethal political violence since 2009.

By Javad Heirannia,

November 1, 2018 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts