Page 221 – Nejat Society

Memories of Middle East misadventures

‘Trump’s use of presidential powers to dictate to other countries with whom they can and can’t do business has entrenched resentment among U.S. allies that will come back to haunt him.’

In this season of remembrance, it’s worth recalling it was only 15 years ago that snorting ideologues in the White House, an incompetent president, and a Middle Eastern confidence trickster took the United States to war in Iraq.

About 400,000 people died as a direct result of that invasion by the U.S., which was justified by the totally fabricated claim that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction.

Now, the death stars are aligning again after Washington’s imposition of rigorous sanctions on Iran following the Donald Trump regime’s decision in May to pull the U.S. out of the United Nations’ agreement to halt Tehran’s nuclear development program.

What the White House wants to happen next is confused.

Trump has talked vaguely of forcing Iran to negotiate a new deal that would: curb Tehran’s power politics in the Middle East; halt its support for groups like Hezbollah; and squash its nuclear and missile development programs.

But Trump has not set out a road map for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, nor the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to follow. This is hardly surprising. Trump is a flim-flam artist for whom the performance is all that counts.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the National Security Advisor John Bolton are clear about what they want. They want regime change in Tehran.

They are under the same delusion that drove the ideologues around President George W. Bush to press for the invasion of Iraq. Bolton and Pompeo think it will take only a little encouragement and pressure for the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic state and move seamlessly to establish a democracy.

The Bush White House was captivated by a convicted confidence trickster named Ahmed Chalabi. He created an exile group called the Iraqi National Congress, and even managed to get the Bush administration to finance his faux resistance.

Chalabi fed the Bush menagerie false information about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction that was used to justify the invasion.

The Central Intelligence Agency warned that Chalabi was unreliable, but the Bush leaguers were so besotted, they called him “The George Washington of Iraq.” Only after the invasion and Chalabi’s installation in government did his lying and fakery quickly become apparent, and he was dumped.

Bolton, Pompeo and others in the Trump regime seem to be going down the same quagmire path with a strange Iranian exiled dissident group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK.

MEK has a turbulent history. It was founded in the 1960s in opposition to the shah of Iran and was part of the Islamic Revolution that overthrew him in 1979. MEK quickly fell out with the new regime, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the group went into exile in Iraq.

MEK members fought with Saddam Hussein’s forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Most Iranians, even those who oppose the current regime, find that traitorous, and MEK has very little following in Iran.

When American forces came upon MEK after the Iraq invasion, their first move was to join other countries in labelling it a terrorist group. After all, MEK members had killed six Americans in terrorist attacks in Iran in the 1970s.

However, MEK members and surrogates mounted a well-financed lobby in Washington. In 2012, the terrorist designation was removed, largely because of lobbying by Bolton. This was a necessary legal preliminary for the U.S. to be able to move the group to sanctuary in Albania. This is one of the few countries willing to accept what has become a cult that treats its members, believed to number around 10,000, more like prisoners than followers.

The leaders of MEK are the married couple Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, though nothing has been heard of Massoud since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and he is presumed dead. Maryam Rajavi is the effective leader of MEK from her exile in France.

And it’s in France that some of the most lavish courting of Washington potentates takes place.

In 2016, a political extravaganza in Paris arranged by MEK drew Bolton, and the man who is now Trump’s personal lawyer on the Russian-collusion file, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, among an array of Washington A-listers.

There are widespread reports that each was paid around US$25,000, and perhaps as high as US$50,000 for their presentations. These were arranged through a speakers’ bureau to give the money a light laundering. Bolton has disclosed he was paid US$40,000 to speak at a MEK rally in 2017.

Where MEK’s money comes from is unclear. But another Paris gala was held in July this year, after Bolton had been appointed Trump’s national security adviser.

Bolton told the crowd of 4,000, many bussed in from their Albanian sanctuary, “There is a viable alternative to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centred in this room today. The behaviour and objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself.”

Bolton’s support for regime change was echoed by Giuliani, who was also making a repeat appearance at the function.

Bolton was at it again on Tuesday at a conference in Singapore, when he said it is Washington’s intention to “squeeze” Iran “until the pips squeak.”

Yet despite the influence of the Bolton-Pompeo-Giuliani axis, it’s unlikely either Trump or Tehran will follow their script.

Trump is a bully, and, like all bullies, he is a coward at heart.

Iran presents little direct threat to the U.S. at the moment, and the ayatollahs show every intention of keeping it that way. UN inspections show Tehran continues to follow the requirements of the 2015 agreement limiting its nuclear program well short of any potential for making weapons.

But Iran is a threat to American allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. However, the recent behaviour of both those governments makes it difficult for even an amoral regime like Trump’s to pursue outrage against Tehran on their behalf.

The murder in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has the fingerprints of Saudi ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman all over it. And the prince’s war in Yemen is a humanitarian disaster with millions of people facing starvation.

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lives in an evil-smelling haze of corruption charges, and his top military and intelligence officials don’t believe Iran is a nuclear threat.

Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 agreement with Tehran is one of the many reasons for the growing division between the current Oval Office regime, and Europe and the democratic world in general, including Canada. This gulf was on display at the ceremonies in France marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, where Trump was ostracized both by the group and himself.

That chasm will grow if Trump attempts to go beyond sanctions in his attack on Iran.

Europe is attempting to protect its companies against revenge from Washington if they continue to do business with Iran. So are two other major signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal, Russia and China.

Trump’s use of presidential powers to dictate to other countries with whom they can and can’t do business has entrenched resentment among U.S. allies that will come back to haunt him.

Iran and Iranians, for their part, will suffer greatly from the Trump sanctions that are intended to batter them into submission. There is already some public disquiet about inflation and the shrinking value of the currency.

But they are a resourceful people, well used to living in a tough neighbourhood, and surviving and thriving in the face of adversity.

Tehran is concerned that Iranians’ resourcefulness will get out of control, and it has introduced draconian penalties for financial crimes, which it calls “spreading corruption on earth.” Two men were executed on Wednesday under the financial-crime laws, one for having a hoard of two tons of gold coins.

Yet the history of sanctions and embargoes is that they create wonderfully inventive economies. Iranians will find ways around Trump’s sanctions.

There is substantial opposition to Iran’s Islamic state, especially in the cities, but all that Trump’s cack-handed approach is likely to achieve is greater national unity against a common enemy.

Jonathan Manthorpe, i politics

November 18, 2018 0 comments

The MEK and the Bankrupt U.S. Policy on Iran

The fact that a group as dubious as the Mujahedin-e Khalq figures so prominently in the Trump administration’s policy on Iran demonstrates the bankruptcy of that policy.

Among the many indicators of misdirection in the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran, one of the clearest is the fondness for the cult-cum-terrorist group known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK. The national security advisor, John Bolton, and Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, are among the group’s most prominent cheerleaders, having been featured speakers at its rallies. They and other shills for the MEK refer to the group as if it represented what it decidedly is not: a democratic alternative to the current Iranian political system.

Journalist Arron Merat, an experienced Iran-watcher who formerly was the Economist’s Tehran correspondent, has just published a 6,600-word article about the MEK in the Guardian. The piece is well worth reading as it forms a richly informed and up-to-date portrait that leaves no doubt about the nature of the group and the ghastly inappropriateness of using the MEK in any way as a vehicle for U.S. policy in the region.

The MEK originated as a student movement that opposed the Shah of Iran and spouted an ideology that weirdly combined Islamism and Marxism. The group was virulently anti-American from the beginning. Its terrorist operations targeted American-owned businesses, and it killed six American citizens in addition to its far more numerous Iranian victims. The MEK was a major player in toppling the shah in the 1979 revolution but soon had a falling out with the new [Ayatollah] Khomeini regime—among other things, the group opposed the regime’s release of the American hostages held at the U.S. embassy. The group continued its terrorism, with the only difference being that the Islamic Republic had replaced the shah’s regime as a principal target.

With the eight-year Iran-Iraq War already underway, the MEK threw in its lot with Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator gave the group weapons, cash, and a compound called Camp Ashraf in return for its continuing attacks inside Iran as well as helping Saddam suppress his own domestic opponents. Iranians understandably viewed this phase in the MEK’s history as an unforgivable act of treason, and whatever support the group previously had in Iran was erased.

Merat’s article provides details of the cult-like aspects of how the MEK has functioned, earlier at Camp Ashraf and more recently, after the group had to leave Iraq, at a compound in Albania. As cult leaders, the husband-and-wife duo of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have resembled the likes of Jim Jones and Shoko Asahara. Families have been broken up, married couples told to divorce, and women threatened with punishment if they did not “marry” Massoud and endure his sexual abuse. (Massoud dropped out of sight after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and it is not known whether he is dead or alive. Maryam continues as the public face of the group.) Stomach-turning details continue to emerge from the MEK’s current location in Albania, including stories of forced hysterectomies and would-be escapees subjected to solitary confinement. The former head of Albanian military intelligence says that MEK members live in the group’s current compound as “hostages” amid “extraordinary psychological violence and threats of murder.”

The MEK’s efforts over the past two decades to convey a benign public image completely at odds with this internal reality, and to pose as a force for democracy in Iran, have depended on buying the public endorsements of well-known public figures. This has required money—lots of it. Five-figure speaking fees have flowed freely. Public disclosure forms indicate Bolton received $40,000 for a single appearance at an MEK event in Paris last year, and Merat gives an estimate of $180,000 as the total that Bolton has received for his multiple appearances on behalf of the group.

In addition to the generous big-name fees, lobbying for the MEK has apparently included other well-financed techniques. The crowd at the Paris event, for example, was supplemented by bussing in young people from Eastern Europe who enjoyed a free weekend in Paris. The group used the same rent-a-crowd technique for a demonstration outside the State Department when the MEK was ramping up its lobbying a few years ago to be delisted as a foreign terrorist organization. Some of the participants in that event were recruited at a homeless shelter in New York; they admitted knowing very little about the MEK but appreciated the free meals they were given for attending.

Where the money is coming from is still somewhat of a mystery. But some clues point to governments that are regional rivals of Iran as the most likely source.

Two further observations flow from this surprisingly successful but wholly unjustified remaking of the MEK’s image. One concerns how some famous—and perhaps otherwise respectable people—evidently have been willing to prostitute themselves to get in on those fat speaking fees. A wide range of political figures have played the game, from Howard Dean on the left to Bolton and many others on the right. Some of the players may have had little more understanding of the MEK when they got involved then did the guys from the homeless shelter in New York. Ed Rendell, a former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, freely admitted that he knew little about the group when he accepted an invitation to speak at an event the MEK staged at a downtown Washington hotel. He then told his audience—in a demonstration of the self-sustaining nature of big-name endorsements—that the reputations of the other speakers at the same event persuaded him that it must be for a worthwhile cause.

Not everyone has succumbed to the monetary temptations. Tip your hat, for example, to Elliott Abrams, a card-carrying neoconservative who has had more than his share of misdirection in Middle East policy, for declining an invitation to speak at an MEK event. Abrams cited the fact that the group was still on the foreign terrorist organization list at the time, but the politically and morally inexcusable nature of advocating for such a group does not depend on such a formal list.

Disruption, Not Democracy

The other observation is that, while the shills have taken their fees to the bank, the fact that a group as dubious as the MEK figures so prominently in the administration’s policy on Iran demonstrates the bankruptcy of that policy. If the MEK is in the game, then we know the game is not about democracy, human rights, or doing right by ordinary Iranians. Bolton and at least some of the others who have touted the group are surely smart enough to realize that and to understand the true nature of the group. They appear to be less interested in democracy in Iran than in the capability for sabotage, destruction, and assassination in Iran—a capability that the MEK still has despite its claims to have forsaken violence.

Fostering that capability may serve the objectives of regional rivals who do their own sabotage, destruction, and assassination aimed against Iran and welcome the augmentation of their capabilities for mayhem that the MEK offers. It certainly does not serve the interests of the United States. It instead increases instability in—and thus around—Iran, strengthens the market for hardline views in Iran, and besmirches the reputation of the United States through associating itself with the MEK.

by Paul R. Pillar, National Interest

Paul R. Pillar is a contributing editor at the National Interest and the author of Why America Misunderstands the World.

November 14, 2018 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Bolton’s Favorite Deranged Cult

The Guardian has published a lengthy article by Arron Merat on the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), and it details the group’s ongoing abuses and crimes at its new base in Albania. This is what John Bolton’s favorite “opposition” group does to its own members:

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. In response to these allegations, an MEK spokesperson said: “The individuals who are described as ‘former members’ were being used as part of a demonisation campaign against the MEK.”

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”.

It should be obvious that a group that abuses its own members so cruelly is unfit to hold political power over anyone. It is a disgrace that so many prominent American and European officials and politicians have aligned themselves with such a despicable organization, and it shows how willing many Iran hawks are to overlook the group’s horrific record because it gives them a convenient ally in their pursuit of regime change.

The MEK was removed from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations six years ago, but that wasn’t because the government believed they had given up on using violence to achieve their goals:

Daniel Benjamin, who was then the head of counter-terrorism at the state department, told me that the US decided to remove the MEK from the list of foreign terrorist organisations not because it believed it had abandoned violence, but to “avoid them all getting killed” if it remained in Iraq [bold mine-DL]. After the MEK was no longer designated a terrorist group, the US was able to convince Albania to accept the 2,700 remaining members – who were brought to Tirana on a series of charter flights between 2014 and 2016.

The Obama administration’s concerns about the safety of the members were understandable, but the de-listing decision was clearly a mistake as many of us said at the time. Unfortunately, that decision has made it easier for a truly awful group to operate and buy more American support.

The cult was heavily dependent on Saddam Hussein during the first decades of their exile, but in recent years they have found a new patron that shares their hostility to Iran:

“The money definitely comes from Saudis,” says Ervand Abrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York and author of the definitive academic work on the group’s history, The Iranian Mojahedin. “There is no one else who could be subsidising them with this level of finance.”

It is not surprising that the MEK would have to rely on money from Iran’s regional rivals. The group has no support inside Iran and virtually none among Iranians in the diaspora, and so it makes sense that they would have to turn once again to a government that would presumably like to use them to harm Iran. Iranians understandably regard them as traitors for their role in the Iran-Iraq war and in their subsequent attacks on their former country. It is remarkable that a group that served as Saddam Hussein’s henchmen for decades could be so quickly and easily rehabilitated. The article recounts the MEK’s role as internal enforcers for Saddam Hussein’s regime, which used them to suppress the uprisings following the Gulf War:

Karwan Jamal Tahir, the Kurdistan regional government’s high representative in London, was a fighter for the Kurdish peshmerga in 1991. He told me that he remembers how the MEK arrived in the town of Kalar, about 93 miles (150km) south-east of Kirkuk, just after Saddam had lost control of the north of Iraq after the first Gulf war. “They came in Saddam’s tanks,” he said. “We thought they were returning peshmerga because the tanks were covered with portraits of Kurdish leaders … but they opened fire on the town … It was a big atrocity.”

An organization with a record of committing atrocities is clearly not one that should ever be entrusted with power in the future, but this hasn’t stopped Bolton, Giuliani, and many others from cheering for them and treating them as if they were Iran’s government-in-waiting. Whatever else it may claim to be, the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) is still a deranged totalitarian cult steeped in the blood of many innocent people. The Western politicians and officials that lend legitimacy to this group have discredited themselves on all matters relating to Iran.

By Daniel Larison

November 12, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

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

Newer Posts

Older Posts