Page 290 – Nejat Society

Giuliani was paid advocate for shady Iranian dissident group

Reports say former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has emerged as a leading candidate to serve as secretary of state under President-elect Donald Trump. (Reuters)

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is reported to be in contention to be Donald Trump’s attorney general or secretary of state. Senators who will be considering his confirmation may want to examine the fact that Giuliani took money to advocate on behalf of an Iranian dissident group while it was listed by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization, potentially breaking the law.

For years, Giuliani has been one of the most prominent American officials to advocate on behalf of the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), a Marxist Iranian opposition group that claims to be the legitimate government of Iran and resembles a cult. A Treasury Department investigation in 2012 examined whether speaking fees paid by several MEK front groups to a long list of U.S. politicians, including Giuliani, violated laws on Americans receiving money from designated terrorist organizations.

The State Department added the MEK to the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997 due to its involvement in the killing of U.S. citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992. The group, which has about 3,000 members living in exile in Iraq, has not conducted a confirmed act of terrorism in more than a decade. In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the United States mostly disarmed the MEK and provided its members with protection at their Iraqi base, Camp Ashraf.

Throughout the first term of the Obama administration, Iranian American organizations with extensive links to the MEK paid prominent U.S. national security officials to speak on behalf of the group. They also contributed heavily to the campaign coffers of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The payments ran through the lobbying law firm DLA Piper, which passed the money through a speakers’ bureau that cut checks to the officials.

In 2011 and 2012, Giuliani gave several speeches, including at events inside the congressional office buildings, calling on the State Department to take the MEK off of the list of foreign terrorist organizations. He also heavily criticized the U.S. government’s effort to help relocate MEK members when the Iraqi government evicted them from Camp Ashraf.

In March 2012, Giuliani traveled to Paris to speak at an MEK conference alongside the group’s secretive leader Maryam Rajavi. While there, he called the U.S. military base in Iraq where the United States wanted to relocate the MEK a “concentration camp.” Those comments later appeared in an MEK ad in the New York Times.

That same month, the Treasury Department’s investigation into the payments made to American politicians became public when former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell admitted that he had received a subpoena related to his work on behalf of the MEK. It’s illegal for American citizens to do business with a group designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

During a pro-MEK protest and rally outside the State Department in 2011, Rendell told me he had received $20,000 for his appearance there. How much money Giuliani received per appearance is unclear, although he spoke on behalf of the MEK several times in 2011 and 2012.

Representatives of several of the front groups, which have names like the Iranian American Citizens of Northern California, have maintained that they have not broken any laws.

Other potential Trump administration appointees took money to advocate for the MEK while it was listed as a foreign terrorist organization, including former ambassador John Bolton and former CIA director James Woolsey, but they were less involved than Giuliani. Other officials who have given pro-MEK paid speeches include Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), former FBI director Louis Freeh, former senator Robert Torricelli, former representative Patrick Kennedy, former national security adviser Gen. James Jones, former Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Richard Myers, former White House chief of staff Andy Card, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former representative Lee Hamilton, former CIA director Porter Goss and former senator Evan Bayh.

At the time, top State Department officials often complained about the U.S. politicians who were advocating for the MEK, calling their interference unhelpful and misguided. The American supporters of the MEK were increasing tensions between the U.S. government and the MEK while negotiations were ongoing.

“The Americans who ought to know better and claim to be on the side of good solutions are really damaging it. Either they are too lazy or too arrogant to actually do their homework. They don’t spend the time to learn facts, they just pop off. They accept the MEK line without question and then they posture,” one State Department official told me in 2012.

In October 2012, after the MEK finally relented to State Department pressure and moved to Camp Liberty, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decided to remove it from the foreign terrorist organization list. What happened to the Treasury Department’s investigation after that is unclear.

The MEK story is complicated because the group does have legitimate grievances and has been the target of deadly attacks by Iranian-backed forces inside Iraq. There are also reports that the U.S. and Israeli intelligence services have used the group’s members at various times to conduct covert operations inside Iran.

Giuliani and the other MEK supporters’ argument that the group is the victim of human rights abuses and deserves protection from atrocities is valid. But by profiting from their advocacy while the group was a listed terrorist organization, they may have broken the law.

And if Giuliani really believes that the MEK could represent a viable alternative to the current Iranian government or a even a key pillar in U.S. policy on Iran, his potential tenure as a national security official in the Trump administration will mean a new and uncharted era in U.S.-Iran relations.

By Josh Rogin ,

November 16, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Former Terrorist Group To Enjoy Close Ties to Rumored Trump Cabinet

Donald Trump’s rumored picks for key foreign-policy positions have already set off alarm bells about the future administration’s embrace of war hawks and Islamophobes. Today, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin pointed out that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is currently reported to be under consideration for an appointment to secretary of state or attorney general, potentially violated the law when he made paid speaking appearances for the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), when the State Department listed the Iranian dissident group as a foreign terrorist organization.

Giuliani isn’t the only likely member of the future administration to have maintained close ties and advocated on behalf of the former terrorist group, which assassinated six Americans in Iran between 1973 and 1976.

John Bolton (another rumored choice for secretary of state), Clare Lopez (who is reportedly short-listed for deputy national security adviser), and Newt Gingrich (who allegedly turned down an offer of secretary of state but has shown interest in serving as a policy adviser in the Trump administration) have all advocated for the former terrorist group and praised its cultish leader, Maryam Rajavi.

Shortly after the overthrow of the Shah, the group experienced a falling out with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and fled into exile. Over the following years, the group’s leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, aligned with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war (7,000 members fought alongside Saddam Hussein, against Iran) and shifted toward increasingly cultish behavior, mandating divorces and celibacy for their soldiers while cultivating a cult of personality around themselves.

Massoud Rajavi hasn’t been seen since overseeing the surrender of MEK forces to the U.S. following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This summer, the former head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud referred to Massoud Rajavi as “the late Massoud Rajavi,” suggesting that he may be deceased. Turki’s participation at an MEK event, meanwhile, was a tacit acknowledgement of Saudi Arabia’s support of the group. Indeed, forming opportunistic alliances has been a hallmark of the MEK. In 2012, U.S. officials told NBC News that Israel’s national intelligence agency, Mossad, was training and arming the MEK to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

The group seeks to portray itself as a government-in-exile and the secular, democratic alternative to Iran’s theocratic government. But the MEK’s lack of influence inside Iran and skepticism about their allegations regarding Iran’s nuclear program—for example, photographic evidence the MEK provided last year allegedly showing evidence of “Lavizan-3,” a secret uranium enrichment facility in the suburbs of Tehran, turned out to be a stock photo from an Iranian safe company – haven’t prevented the group from gaining footholds in Washington through campaign contributions and lucrative speaking gigs for politicians who praise Rajavi and call for regime change in Iran at MEK rallies.

The MEK is known for paying generous sums to former officials who speak at their events. Lee Hamilton, a former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee who headed the Woodrow Wilson Center for 12 years, told InterPress Service that he was paid “a substantial amount” to appear on an MEK panel in 2011.

Giuliani, Bolton, Lopez, and Gingrich have all sung the praises of Maryam Rajavi, called for the U.S. to work towards regime change in Tehran, and treated the MEK as a legitimate Iranian government in exile.

Speaking at an MEK rally outside Paris last year, Giuliani, who had taken speaking fees from the group when it was on the foreign terrorist organization (FTO) list, told the audience:

I will not support anyone for President of the United States who isn’t clear on that slogan behind me. What does it say? It says “Regime Change.” … I will not support a candidate who does not have the moral fiber and the courage to stand up to the Ayatollah and tell him “We are going to do everything we can to get you out and you are never going to become a nuclear power.”

Bolton, who also advocated for the group when it was on the FTO list, told an MEK audience outside Paris last summer:

There is only one answer here: To support legitimate opposition groups that favor overthrowing the military theocratic dictatorship in Tehran, and it should be the declared policy of the United States of America and all of its friends to do just that at the earliest opportunity.

Gingrich, who also spoke for the group before it was delisted, told the 2016 gathering in Paris:

There are no moderates in the dictatorship. The dictatorship cannot be trusted. The [nuclear] agreement made with it is insane.

He concluded by praising the commitment of Rajavi’s followers, saying:

I want you to know that the message I will take home to America is that there are thousands and thousands of Iranians who are prepared, who are ready, who are committed to and who believe that we can truly bring democracy to Iran.

Lopez, who serves as a vice president at the Center for Security Policy, a far-right think tank headed by anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney, and as executive director of the long-time MEK advocacy group, the Iran Policy Committee, from 2005 to 2006, wrote that Prince Turki’s surprising appearance marked a watershed moment for the MEK.

She wrote:

…[T]he implications of official Riyadh government support for the largest, most dedicated, and best-organized Iranian opposition movement will reverberate through the Middle East.

Although not openly stated by bin Faisal, the new NCRI-Riyadh alliance may be expected to involve funding, intelligence sharing, and possible collaboration in operations aimed at the shared goal of overthrowing the current Tehran regime.

If Lopez, Giuliani, Bolton, or Gingrich serve in the Trump administrations, the MEK will have the highest level access its ever enjoyed in the U.S. government, a remarkable journey for a fringe Islamic-Marxist group that, until 2012, was on the State Department’s terrorism list for its role in assassinating Americans.

by Eli Clifton

November 16, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Trump’s Worse Than Bush and Obama

Trump’s Worse Than Bush and Obama (Mojahdein Khalq terrorists, Maryam Rajavi, Saudi Family, Rudi Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and John Bolton)

US President-elect Donald Trump is already lining up a tell-tale team of Wall Street and Washington insiders as well as warmongering Neo-Conservatives and sponsors of terrorism to fill his cabinet and serve in key positions within his upcoming administration. He’s also openly reneging on his campaign promises, before even getting into office.

The Intercept in an article titled, “Donald Trump Recruits Corporate Lobbyists to Select His Future Administration,” would reveal that:

Trump for America Inc., a nonprofit group chaired by Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., to oversee the Trump transition, has quietly moved ahead, meeting with interest groups and reaching out to lobbyists to plan a future Trump administration.

The group has held regular meetings at the Washington, D.C., offices of Baker Hostetler, a law and lobbying firm.

On Thursday, the group hosted a breakfast at Baker Hostetler attended by Microsoft’s Ed Ingle and Steve Hart, two lobbyists who, according to filings, have worked to promote the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Other transition meetings have included briefings with the Financial Services Roundtable and the Investment Company Institute, two lobby groups that represent Wall Street interests, as well as with the BGR Group, a lobby firm that represents Saudi Arabia and the South Korean government.

Perhaps BGR relayed some information to Trump’s team during these meetings on behalf of their South Korean clients, which is why Trump has now already announced a complete reversal regarding his alleged platform of no longer maintaining America’s vast collection of protectorates around the globe – South Korea included.

Vox in its article, “Trump just completely reversed his policy on South Korea — only 2 days after being elected,” would report that:

Trump has tried to put those concerns to rest by speaking directly with Park over the phone and promising to maintain the existing security alliance. “We will be steadfast and strong with respect to working with you to protect against the instability in North Korea,” Trump told the South Korean president, according to a statement from her office.

This is in stark contrast to Trump’s comments during the presidential campaign. Vox stated:

“We are better off frankly if South Korea is going to start protecting itself,” Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper back in March. “They have to protect themselves or they have to pay us.” In a January interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said, “We have 28,000 soldiers on the line in South Korea between the madman and them,” referring to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “We get practically nothing compared to the cost of this.”

But this is relatively minor in comparison to some other warning signs.

As early as August of this year, Trump revealed his consideration of John Bolton as his potential Secretary of State. Breitbart in an article titled, “Trump: We are Seriously Thinking About Picking John Bolton as Secretary of State,” would claim:

“I think John Bolton’s a good man,” Trump replied. “I watched him yesterday, actually, and he was very good in defending me in some of my views, and very, very strong. And I’ve always liked John Bolton. Well, we are thinking about it, Hugh. I will say that. We are thinking about it. I mean, the negative is what I told you. But we are seriously thinking about it.”

John Bolton is a Bush-era Neo-Conservative who helped sell the war in Iraq to the American people under the false threat of “weapons of mass destruction.” The war would claim a million Iraqis and over 4,000 US troops and has left the nation in ruination to this very day. Bolton would go on to use “weapons of mass destruction” as a pretext for America moving on to a narrowly averted war with Iran.

Additionally, Bolton has spent years lobbying for the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist group that has killed US military personal, US civilian contractors, as well as Iranian politicians and civilians through decades of terrorist attacks both within and beyond Iran’s borders. Until recently, and including during Bolton’s lobbying activities, MEK was a US State Department-listed foreign terrorist organization, listed side-by-side Al Qaeda, the self-proclaimed “Islamic State,” and Boko Haram.

Today, Bolton characterizes Russia, China, and Iran as US enemies and seeks expanded military spending and military operations abroad to widen already unprecedented tensions with all three nations.

That Trump even considered making this man his Secretary of State should alarm all Americans, whether they opposed the Iraq War under Bush or US military interventions in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Iraq under Obama.

Bolton’s consideration for a place within Trump’s incoming administration all but assures the wars not only continue, they will disastrously expand.

Lobbying for MEK terrorists alongside Bolton was former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. They and other fixtures of American Neo-Conservatism backed MEK along with the Royal Saudi Family, according to the US State Department’s own Voice of America (VOA) media platform.

VOA’s article, “Saudi Backing of Iranian Exile Group Inflames Mideast Conflicts,” would reveal:

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a respected former Saudi ambassador to Britain and the United States, startled many observers when he turned up Saturday at a conference in Paris of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq or MEK.

VOA would also report:

In the course of that campaign, the MEK and its “diplomatic” arm, the so-called National Council of Resistance in Iran, paid millions of dollars to ex-U.S. officials of both major political parties. Saturday’s confab featured many of these individuals including Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and a contender to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, as well as Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and U.N. ambassador under Bill Clinton, and former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

Both Giuliani and Gingrich are also likely to receive positions within Trump’s administration. The fact that Trump has cozied up to men working not only for listed terrorist organizations, but terrorist organizations backed by the Saudis, is particularly alarming not to mention ironic considering Trump’s campaign trail rhetoric.

Continuity of Agenda and How to Break the Cycle

The convergence here between Neo-Conservatism, sponsoring terrorism, warmongering, despotic regimes like that in Riyadh, and all the other abuses and outrages started under Bush and eagerly continued under Obama is no coincidence.

Continuity of agenda continues under Trump, just as it would have under Hillary Clinton, just as it has under Obama and before that under Bush, Bill Clinton, and before that under George Bush Sr.

The only real question America should be asking themselves now is not whether the right-wing claws of this scorpion are more dangerous than the left-wing poisoned stinger, but why we are arguing about it and not just going straight for the head.

Protests in the streets by the left, and a right prepared to go back to sleep for 4-8 years as “their guy” takes the helm of wars they have learned to loved to hate for the past 8 years, does nothing to affect the bottom lines of the corporations and financial institutions that dominate both parties of American politics, benefiting regardless of who is in the White House, moving their agenda and interests forward under the cover of a partisan smokescreen, and all at the cost of not only the American people, but increasingly the peace and stability of the entire planet.

If America’s left and right ever decide to meet in the middle, fighting the multinational corporations festering on Wall Street will be the ground upon which they do so. They will not require “elections” or protests to succeed – simply redirecting the daily financial support, time, and energy Americans pour into these corporations and institutions, instead into local alternatives, is all it will take. Recognizing this as the actual solution, amid increasingly tempting partisan pitfalls, will be the hardest part of reaching toward real progress.

Land Destroyer,

November 15, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Michael Rubin : Outreach to the MKO is the worst possible move

Michael Rubin is a former pentagon official and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy. He publishes his analytical comments onthe Commentary Magazine. He has several times discussed issues relating the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO). Following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president, Rubin finds it crucial to discuss the possibility of embracing the MKO by the Trump administration. His post on the Commentary Magazine is titled “Will Trump Embrace the MKO?” .

Rubin considers embracing the MKO as “going into an uncharted territory”. “Some Trump advisors appear to have endorsed the group at one point or another, “he asserts. “To be fair, the MKO is no longer designated a terror group, and its advocates argue that the only reason it was in the first place was in order to appease Iran. Not only prominent Republicans but also Democrats have appeared with Maryam Rajavi, the group’s leader.

However he warns the Trump administration about the truth of the MKO, ”Still, it is important to remember that the MKO is a Marxist, authoritarian cult with minimal support inside Iran.” Rubin’s claim on the MKO’s unpopularity inside Iran is based on his authentic experience of spending a seven- month long residence in Iran during the 1990s. Based on his real life account Iranian people have various views about the Islamic Republic and the exiled opposition groups but “the only unifying factor was the absolute antipathy with which they viewed the MKO, a group which allied itself with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War.” He clarifies his account writing, “Many Iranians view the MKO in the same way as Americans view John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban. That the MKO conducted terrorism which victimized ordinary Iranians has only solidified Iranian public opinion against the group even further.”

While Rubin is a detractor of the Iranian government and criticizes it ruthlessly, he is very sensible about the fraudulent propaganda of the MKO. He writes, “The MKO’s rhetoric about democracy can be alluring, but if the goal of the Trump administration is to contain, weaken, and roll back the influence of the Islamic Republic, then outreach to the MKO is the worst possible move because it would rally Iranians around the flag and strengthen the current regime.”

He advises President Trump by the ending sentence of his commentary: “The enemy of an enemy is not always a friend.”

Michael Rubin, Commentary Magazine

November 15, 2016 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Possible Trump Cabinet Members’ Links to the Mojahedin Khalq Could Spell Trouble for Iran

Among the foreign policy think tanks and pundits of New York and DC, few supported Trump or even countenanced the possibility of his election. Now that the dust has settled and the populist tycoon is soon to move into the White House, speculations abound as to what his foreign policy will be like.

What makes Trump hard to predict is that the 70-year-old billionaire has a history of zigzagging. He doesn’t seem to be a genuine ideological right-winger, but rather an opportunist who marketed a series of what could only loosely be described as “policies” because he knew they’d play well with his right-wing base. Prior to 1987, he was a registered Democrat, before flipping to the Republican party, then to Ross Perot’s right-wing Reform Party, then back to the Democrats, then—after Obama’s victory—back to Republicans once more.

During the campaign, too, he took vague and contradictory positions and flip-flopped on major issues. Banking on Hillary Clinton’s reputation as a hawk and the US population’s resentment at their country’s many foreign military adventures, Trump often appeared to take an isolationist stance, which sadly fooled even some left-wingers who claimed he was “less of a threat” to the world than his competitor. But on major issues, he often wanted more not less military intervention.

Trump advocated a higher military budget and an escalation of the fight against ISIS. While initially demanding 20 to 30,000 US boots on the ground, he later retracted this position and said Saudi Arabia should supply these forces. At times he said the UN-backed war in Afghanistan was a mistake and at other times he supported it. At the time of the UN-backed intervention in Libya, he supported bringing down of the country’s ruler, Moammer Gaddafi, but has since changed his position more than once.

It is safe to say that we can’t pretend to know the direction of Trump’s foreign policy. This seems to be evolving as the President-elect starts having to deal with a prospect of actually sitting behind the most powerful desk in the world.

What predictions can we then make regarding the possible Iran policies of the Trump administration?

Even though he promised to tear up the Iran Deal during the all three presidential debates, analysts have pointed out that he “probably” won’t do that, especially as the deal has the support of other world powers such as EU and Russia, whose Tehran-allied president Putin Trump has wooed for a while. On the other hand, the Israeli commentator Zvi Bar’el has pointed out that if Trump actually moves on to “fiddle with the nuclear deal,” this would favor Iran, as it could portray the US as a violating party and enlist the help of others. What remains unsaid is that any such belligerence on Trump’s part would also bolster the anti-reform and anti-deal hardliners in the Iranian establishment, some of whom have spoken favorably of Trump. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei came close to endorsing the business mogul when he said that “they call him a populist because he speaks the truth”.

What might make the Trump policy clearer is the make-up of his cabinet, in particular his national security team. This is where advocates of peace and democracy in Iran and the Middle East should find cause for worry.

Two of the main contenders for the position of Secretary of State are the former House speaker Newt Gingrich and the former UN ambassador John Bolton. Not only have both of these men supported a military attack on Iran and “regime change” there, they are some of the closest American “friends” of a notorious Iranian political-militant organization known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) which is almost universally hated inside Iran after having collaborated with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War.

MEK was designated a terrorist organization by the US until it was de-listed in 2012. After the overthrow of its patron, Saddam Hussein, in 2003, the group became mostly irrelevant and no figure of repute in Iranian politics would go anywhere near it after the evidence of the major abuses it perpetrated was laid bare over the last few years.

John Bolton also has a long history of support for MEK and is a frequent guest at its rallies. In March 2015, as the talks surrounding the Iran Nuclear Deal were reaching a sensitive stage, he called for a military attack on Iran and “vigorous American support” for MEK “aimed at regime change in Tehran”. Last summer, Gingrich spoke at MEK’s rally in Paris alongside Turki bin Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence. Gingrich went as far as to solemnly bow down to MEK’s leader, Maryam Rajavi, calling her by her favored title, “President-elect”. When running for the Republican party presidential nomination in 2012, Gingrich openly called for “replacing the leadership of Iran”, saying that this could be accomplished within a year.

With Gingrich and Bolton likely to be appointed to two of the highest national security positions in the Trump administration, will Rajavi’s totalitarian cult gain influence?

Other possible members of a Trump administration are also leading anti-Iran hawks. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, tipped for the position of attorney general, has been paid handsome sums to appear at MEK rallies. New Jersey governor Chris Christie, head of the Trump transition team, has called Iran a “greater threat than ISIS”. Mike Flynn, possibly the next secretary of defense, is on the record as saying, “I’ve been at war with Islam, or a component of Islam, for the last decade” and complaining about Iran’s “lies, their flat out lies, and then their spewing of constant hatred, no matter whenever they talk”.

Last but not least, one of the primary funders of Trump’s campaign is casino-owner Sheldon G. Adelson, who endorsed him in May and gave $25 million to an anti-Clinton Super PAC last week. Adelson is known for having advocated a nuclear strike on Iran. This 25th richest man in the world is also a close ally of Israel’s right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a close associate of Gingrich, whose 2012 campaign he supported. Adelson is so close to Netanyahu that he pumps 50 million dollars a year into a free news daily, Israel Hayom, that attacks Netanyahu’s domestic enemies on both the left and the right. The two are so close that when there a bill that would have hurt Israel Hayom was tabled in the Knesset, Israel’s national legislature, Netanyahu opposed it at the cost of the collapse of his own coalition government. The next coalition government was formed only when his partners promised not to bring media-related bills that could hurt Adelson.

Trump’s Iran policy would depend on many factors, including his relationships with Moscow, Riyadh and Tel Aviv, his position on US military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and the demands of the Republican-led Congress, the majority of which opposed the Iran Deal. But the links with MEK are a serious cause for worry, and the reason Iranians should be vigilant and make it clear that this cult doesn’t speak for the people of Iran, nor they are genuine advocates of democracy in the country.

Arash Azizi, Global voice,

November 13, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

National Security: Could Maryam Rajavi blackmail her friends in high places – Giuliani, Bolton and Gingrich

As the reverberations of the American election echo and ripple across America and around the world, some of its repercussions are already being felt – demonstrations, racist attacks, global market and currency fluctuations, the Russian reaction and more. But as President-elect Trump considers who to appoint to the most influential positions in his Administration, the hopeful candidates may want to consider repercussions which may arise from their own backgrounds.

In particular, Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich. Putting aside their weak personalities as well as their individual neoconservative agendas, the common thread which links these names together is their decade long support for the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation (also known as Saddam’s Private Army or Rajavi cult).

Newt Gingrich bows to Maryam Rajavi

It is certain that neither these three hopefuls nor the MEK believed they would make a comeback. Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich are not Republican favourites. But apparently, with the election of Donald Trump, their time has come. The MEK also didn’t think Trump could win and therefore advertised for Hillary Clinton in their websites.

Rudi Giuliani with Maryam Rajavi

In American politics, such things can be quickly glossed over, dismissed as political strategies. But Donald Trump does need to take this past into consideration. What Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich do not know is that the MEK have a full record of all their meetings, dialogue and discussions. After being tutored by Saddam’s Intelligence service the MEK learned to film and record every conversation with an external person, particularly people like Rudi Giuliani, on every occasion whether in the US, Paris or Europe, even during dinner gatherings. This means that every time they hosted speakers and supporters in Paris or America these meetings were recorded. The MEK is now in possession of hundreds of hours of audio/video recordings as well as emails and phone calls of individuals like these three who have been mingling openly over the past decade with people they took to be ordinary oppositionists, but were in fact trained agents of the MEK and Saddam. The recordings can be edited and published by the MEK to suit the time, need and place.

John Bolton with Mojahedin Khalq operatives

The MEK’s hope was, of course, that by recording these private conversations they could be used in future to pressurise or even blackmail individuals if needed. They perhaps didn’t have any hope then that these individuals would reach such high office. As such this is a national security concern for the US. No one knows what is in the tapes and no one knows how these three, who have done everything for a fee in the past, would be able to stop the MEK from exposing them.

These three entered into paid lobbying for a group such as Mojahedin Khalq knowingly (perhaps not envisaging a day which they could be back in the game) accepting the end of their careers as officials. If they are now brought back and appointed to key positions, US policy could simply be taken hostage by a notorious terrorist organisation such as the Mojahedin Khalq.

Even if these three gave assurances that the paid support they gave to Maryam Rajavi and her terrorist cult Mojahedin Khalq has been done purely on straightforward lobbying grounds, no one can be certain that a decade of recordings and document gathering by the MEK would not end up producing enough leverage to highjack the national security of the United States and or its allies across the globe.

President Trump (and security advisors) simply can’t afford to take such a risk with the future of the country.

National Security: Could Maryam Rajavi (Mojahedin Khalq) blackmail her friends in high places – Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich

Massoud Khodabandeh,Director at Middle East Strategy Consultants.

November 12, 2016 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 167

++ Mahnaz Akafian, mother of MEK hostage Mohammad Ali Sassani, gave an interview to Mardom TV. Speaking with Parsa Sorbi, Akafian explained that in 1987 her son had been a soldier with the Iranian army. He was stationed in Kurdistan. But on the last day of his service he was captured by Komeleh – the armed anti-Iran Kurdish group. They traded him and other captives to the Saddam regime for a sack of sugar each. The Iraqis deliberately mistreated the POWs in order to coerce them into accepting ‘refuge’ with the MEK who would at least feed them. Ever since then the MEK have held him illegally. In spite of the fact he is a POW, no official body has done anything to help or rescue him. Now he has been forcefully transferred to Tirana and is again being held incommunicado by the MEK. Still, after all these years, explains his mother, the Pentagon and CIA do not allow any agencies to contact him or others like him in Tirana.

‘We mothers will never forget the nasty work of the Americans just to keep their favourite terrorist group from collapsing’, said Akafian. ‘We families are paying the price’. Akafian has travelled to Europe and came to the UK in 2008 where she spoke to several parliamentarians who expressed sympathy and pledged their help. Unfortunately, American pressure meant they had to back off. ‘As long as I am alive’, says Akafian, ‘I will try to rescue my son and have it written into the history books that this is what the Americans did to promote terrorism’.

++ Maryam Rajavi has announced a new phase of ‘toppling the regime by political assault’. She has dispatched her top people to the European bases, but especially to Tirana where she also sent her former husband Mehdi Abrishamchi. Those members burned and injured in various MEK violence were also sent to put emotional pressure on the members not to leave and abandon them. Rajavi said ‘we never said we would not change our phases but still our aim is to topple the regime’. Apparently, this explanation and the emotional pressure are not working. People that Iran Interlink has contact with in Tirana say they do not understand her reasoning and there are many unanswered questions. How can you say, 5,000 km from Iran, that a political assault will topple the regime? What, in any case, is a ‘political assault’ and how do I fit in? These are some of the questions raised by the MEK members.

People close to the leadership in Paris, however, say that Maryam has been assigned to perform the lobbying and media work for other anti-Iran terrorist groups which are backed by Saudi Arabia and Israel. So, if a terrorist group kills people in Baluchistan or Kurdistan, or there is a demonstration like the one in Pasargad, the MEK is tasked with claiming the act as belonging to them and creating publicity for them; creating external pressure on Iran on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Israel. These same people, however, say that being her, and in the absence of Massoud Rajavi, Maryam is stuck. She is not capable of taking people with her in a different direction as Massoud was. The members are falling by the way side. The MEK’s backers are used to seeing the organisation’s work under Massoud Rajavi and do not realise yet that Maryam is incapable of doing the same, Her ex-husband Abrishamchi does know this and does know her limitations.

In English:

++ Nejat Society reports on the letter writing campaign by families of MEK hostages warning the new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran not to fall for the same deception tactics of the MEK as her predecessor which led to his loss of face.

++ Iran Interlink reports that the authorities in Albania will be interested to learn that the MEK in Tirana are using the members as slave labour in new businesses they have set up in the capital. The businesses are partly to make money, but also to keep the members occupied. The MEK has used its members as slaves for thirty years and never paid or rewarded them in any way.

++ Eldar Mamedov, advisor in the European Parliament, has written ‘Europe Capitalizes on the Iran Deal’. Based on a report by the EP the article highlights the positives and progress made in relations between Iran and the European Union. However there is some lingering opposition described thus: “Despite the overwhelming support the house has given the report, a minority of MPs expressed vocal opposition. Some of the criticisms reflect what rapporteur Richard Howitt called ‘the lobbying interests’ of forces opposed to the nuclear agreement with Iran in the first place: right-wing pro-Israeli organizations, Saudi Arabia, and the exiled Iranian dissident group Mojaheddin-e Khalk (MEK), which was on the EU terror list until 2009 and removed on technicality. The hawkish American Jewish Committee blasted the report for allegedly ‘giving Iran a free pass on human rights and support for Assad regime,’ although it somewhat mitigated its criticisms when the EP adopted the last-minute amendment condemning Iran for its ‘calls for destruction of Israel and denial of Holocaust.’ MEK, meanwhile, managed to convince enough MPs to consider an amendment calling to investigate the 1988 massacres of political prisoners in Iran—a crime indeed, but one that Iranians themselves, and not foreign legislative bodies, are best placed to address. However, the house ultimately rejected this amendment.”

++ Nejat Society: “On Saturday October 29th former member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (the MKO) addressed a seminar in Koln University. Mr Davoud Arshad member of ‘No to Terrorism and Cults Society’ was invited to attend the seminar by the Union of students and scholars of Koln University. Human Rights, Energy Crisis and Cultural Interactions were subjects discussed in the seminar. Mr. Arshad spoke on the relations between violation of human rights in cults and expansion of terrorism in the world. As a victim of the MKO (the cult of Rajavi), Mr. Arshad describes how horribly members of the MKO particularly female members are victims of human rights abuses.”

++ Mazda Parsi writes about the MEK reaction to the events around Mosul in Iraq. The group’s silence and pretended ignorance of Daesh’s atrocities – calling them “Iraqi revolutionary tribes” – confirms MEK support for the group. Similarly, the MEK approach to the child victims of Yemen’s war (ignoring them) and the idealization of children in Syria as victims of the Russian and Syrian armies reflect the MEK’s beliefs. Parsi says that the MEK cannot condemn Daesh’s use of human shields because they don’t recognise it as being wrong. It is something they do themselves albeit in a different way. The MEK leaders exploit the members as human shields to protect their very existence. Even using them as slave labour for businesses. “It is absolutely wrong to conclude that leaders of the group are thinking of entrepreneurship. The leaders of the group are the ones who benefit from this. The members are being abused. The absolute truth is that the Cult of Rajavi does not value the lives of its members but it wants to make the most profit out of them. ‘The businesses belong to the MEK and are not part of a rehabilitation scheme’, according to Iran-Interlink. ‘MEK members exist in a state of modern slavery and have never benefitted from pay or worker rights during their decades of membership of the cult.’”

November 04, 2016

November 8, 2016 0 comments

Albania

Albania: Toxic Waste, Cannabis and the Iranian Mojahedin Khalq are part of the same equation under the devilish Justice Reform

In October, City News published an article by Kastriot Myftaraj criticising Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Justice Reforms. The article outlines what Myftaraj calls a black market deal with Washington to bring thousands of Iranian members of the Mojahedin Khalq organisation to Albania. This is a large number in relation to Albania’s own population and its place amongst other NATO countries. What may have been profitable for some is very harmful for the country and its inhabitants.

Rama’s government is accused of covertly striking other harmful deals. First to transform the country into a large plantation of cannabis production. Second, to transform the country into a centre for processing trash and hazardous waste from Europe and beyond. Both deals earning multi-billion euros for a minority of people.

In order to push these deals, Myftaraj says Prime Minister Rama invented the idea of ‘Justice Reform’, but argues that it doesn’t take a genius to realise that ‘reformers’ of justice are not really interested in making the justice system functional or independent because if this were so, judges and prosecutors would reveal and punish the authors of the above three schemes.

An independent prosecutor would ascertain what agreement there was to allow the introduction of the Mojahedin Khalq organisation in Albania. According to Albania’s constitution, any such agreement should have been passed to Parliament for approval. An independent court, therefore, would prosecute the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior as criminals.

An independent prosecutor would only need to chart the chronology of events to understand the connection implicit in the title of the article. It is no coincidence that the bill for the arrival of garbage and hazardous waste before the Assembly came after the massive influx of Mojahedin.

The author of this equation – as expressed in the title of the analysis – is Soros, who lobbied Washington to support this scheme, aiming to provide income to finance the activities of his Foundation in the Balkans and beyond Europe.

In coming years, Albania will be known for the import of Mojahedin Khalq organisation, imported toxic waste and the mass cultivation of cannabis. Time will tell how the ‘reformed’ justice system will deal with this challenge. In conclusion, Myftaraj forecasts that Rama’s ‘Justice Reform’ will not affect the progress of this hellish business.

November 8, 2016 0 comments

Iran

Iran-Albania to develop bilateral ties, MKO to open fast food

Having been completely relocated in Albania, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) is making futile efforts to reestablish its cult in the new hosting country. This is while a large number of members of the group have left it immediately after their resettlement in Albania. Besides, recent news on relations of the Iranian and Albanian government is not good news for the group.

On october19, the new Iranian ambassador in Tirana met Albania president Bujar Nishani. In the meeting to receive Gholamhossein Mohamamdnia’s letter of credentials, Nishani called Iran a great country with a rich culture and history. “Economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries are of great value to Albania,” he said.

On October31, president Rouhani also received credentials of the new Albanian ambassador, Genti Gazheli to Tehran. President Rouhani said the two countries have cultural common grounds and Iran is interested to develop ties and help carry out economic development and boost cultural, tourism and scientific relations with Albania.

According to the news media, both presidents emphasized on the expansion of cultural, political and economic ties. However, the news of Iran–EU newly-established relation based on nuclear deal seems to be worse than the news of Iran- Albania warm relation because the MKO lobbying groups and propaganda have spent too much to gain the support of certain EU countries.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Feredrica Mogrini had previously stated that the EU member states once again wanted to become Iran’s biggest trading partner. Thus, the cluster matchmaking event with the aim to foster cooperation between clusters from Europe with Iranian clusters, industrial associations and development agencies was held on October 17th and 18th, in Tehran.

The normalization of the ties between Iran and Europe and Albania have left the MKO in a state of desperation and impasse. To break down such a condition, the MKO leaders have no way out except imposing more pressure on members. The cult jargons to indoctrinate the rank and file have been intensified in Albania. The group leaders are seeking new fraudulent tactics to maintain members inside the cult.

Furthermore, having lost their financial sponsor Saddam Hussein, the group authorities have to rely on new investments. Opening fast food restaurants in Tirana might be a last resort to earn money via a righteous way – selling Iranian national interests to the enemies of Iranians, have been so far a more common way to earn money used by the MKO.

Mazda Parsi,

November 7, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

RC: MEK members in Albania have no access to the outside world

Mujahedin-e Khalq members have had no contact with the outside world for the last 35 years. They have had no contact with their families. Members are held hostages within the MKO Cult camps. The whereabouts of some are even unknown to their families.

Mr. Mir Bagher Sedaghi has been seeking to find a way to visit his brother who is living at Mujahedin-e khalq Camp in Tirana, Albania.

He perused the issue through the Red Cross office of Bern.

The Red Cross officials reported him their several months of perusing the case, last week.

Mr. Sedaghi reiterated the Red Cross report:

“More than twenty Iranian families living in Swiss have contacted us during the last year. They asked us to help them with sending their letters to their family members at MKO Camp in Tirana. We perused the subject through the Red Cross office of Tirana. The Red Cross office of Tirana sent us an email. The email reads:

“ the MEK is a closed cult. They don’t allow us to contact the members of the group. We couldn’t contact any member of the group. We just could hand the letters to the MEK officials. However we know that the letters have not reached the members. The MEK members in Albania are not allowed to have phone, Internet or TV. They have no access to the outside world and we can do nothing for them. …”

Nejat Society reporting from Iran-Setaregan Website

November 6, 2016 0 comments

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