Iran: EU countries responsible for the outcome
Iran summons ambassadors of the EU countries to protest against their decision to remove the MKO from the list of terrorist organizations.
Earlier in January, the foreign ministers of the European Union countries approved a decision to remove the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) from the blacklist.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move, saying, “It came despite the fact that the organization has not altered its trigger-happy ideology.”
The MKO has claimed responsibility for carrying out numerous terror attacks against Iranian nationals and officials, and has also been accused of assisting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the slaughter of thousands of Iraqi civilians in the 1990s.
The US State Department has said that the MKO assassinated at least six US citizens in Iran, prior to the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The US government has designated the MKO a “terrorist” organization.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari told the summoned EU ambassadors on Wednesday that the removal of the MKO from the list of banned terrorist groups was “a political and unacceptable move.”
The ruling by the 27-nation EU against the MKO’s seven-year inclusion in the blacklist results from recent legal developments combined with intense lobbying by the terrorist group. Safari went on to warn about the consequences of giving in to the terrorist group’s demands, adding that the EU countries involved in making this decision would be responsible for its outcome.