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	<title>JCPOA - Nejat Society</title>
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	<title>JCPOA - Nejat Society</title>
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		<title>Rajavi Silent On Palestine, Awaiting New Instruction</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12677</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 May 2021 03:30:08 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Massoud Rajavi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran nuclear deal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rajavis and Cult Leadership]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12677</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>SSince taking over leadership of the MEK after the 1979 Revolution, Massoud Rajavi and his wife have been very fond of publicity. Mostly about them and only if it shows&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12677">Rajavi Silent On Palestine, Awaiting New Instruction</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>SSince taking over leadership of the MEK after the 1979 Revolution, Massoud Rajavi and his wife have been very fond of publicity. Mostly about them and only if it shows them in a positive way. Rajavi has always tried to control media coverage of the MEK and the Rajavi leadership brand. As time has passed and the MEK role has changed from terrorist/military to intelligence/propaganda-based activity, Rajavi has become famous for always having something to say about just about anything – from events in South America to the Far East. The Rajavi propaganda machine constantly churns out the messages of the MEK’s owners and backers, whether Saudi, Israeli or the US.</p>
<p>But recently, Rajavi has fallen silent. Not a word of comment can be found on the Saudi-Iran talks in Tehran. Not a word on the situation in Israel and the Occupied territories and neighbouring countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan). Rajavi has suddenly been confronted with the unthinkable: that his backers and paymasters are either making deals with Iran or losing the battle to suppress the country. There is even a possibility that the US and Iran could come to an agreement on the JCPOA as talks continue in Vienna.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-12678 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Palestine-202105-1.jpg" alt="Palestine" width="800" height="512" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Palestine-202105-1.jpg 800w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Palestine-202105-1-300x192.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Palestine-202105-1-768x492.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>Nothing demonstrates more clearly the mercenary nature of the MEK and its leadership than this situation. Rajavi is unable to take a specific line unless told by his masters. At present this line is confused and vague in relation to his masters’ relations with Iran.</p>
<p>No doubt once the situation is clarified one way or another, Rajavi will pump up his slave-driven propaganda machine to churn out the correct line. But for the present, Rajavi must wait and see what happens.</p>
<p>Oh for the days of Saddam, when all that was needed was to threaten to overthrow the entire Iranian regime.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12677">Rajavi Silent On Palestine, Awaiting New Instruction</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>The MEK supporters know about its unpopularity in Iran</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12657</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2021 09:46:35 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq Declining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The MEK and Acts of Treason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The MEK and the Iranian People]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12657</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>One of the main characteristics of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) is its complete dependence on foreign states and specifically those who are in&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12657">The MEK supporters know about its unpopularity in Iran</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>One of the main characteristics of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) is its complete dependence on foreign states and specifically those who are in conflict with the Iranian government including the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The MEK offer services to the enemy of their enemy and in exchange they gain financial and logistical support.</p>
<p>The unlimited interactions of MEK, as a terrorist group, with enemies of Iran contains any act that a mercenary or proxy force might do.</p>
<p>The MKO has followed this pattern, from the beginning of its establishment. The most prominent example was the group’s connection with the Soviet Unions’ intelligence service, KGB, and then serving as Saddam’s private army in the eight years of war against Iran. Collaboration with the former Iraqi dictator was something that other opposition groups of the Iranian government avoided or at least refused to reveal.</p>
<div id="attachment_7659" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-7659" class="wp-image-7659 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MKO_Mercenaty.jpg" alt="MEK mercenaries" width="700" height="371" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MKO_Mercenaty.jpg 700w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MKO_Mercenaty-300x159.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><p id="caption-attachment-7659" class="wp-caption-text">siding with the the countries&#8217; enemies caused the Iranian people to hate the Mujahedin-e Khalq .</p></div>
<p>Investigating the reasons of such an attitude by the side of the MEK leaders only leads to one definite conclusion, and it is the complete despair of the group for having the least social base within Iranian people. While other opposition groups are not far behind in this area, the unjustifiable record of the MEK from treasons in the war to the hundreds of terrorist attacks against the innocent civilians has left no room for them. Thus, it is safe to say that there will be no support for them inside Iran and they are one of the most hated entities for the Iranian people.</p>
<p>Although there are documented evidences of US, Israel and Saudi’s support for the MEK, these states hardly ever want their links with this cult-like and formerly designated terrorist group to be overt. They definitely know about the unpopularity of the group among the Iranian public.</p>
<p>With recent progresses in the diplomatic relations of the region, the opening of direct channels between Iran and Saudi Arabia will signal a calming of tensions across the Middle East after years of hostilities. In addition, there is an optimistic signal by the Biden administration that an American return to the accord between Iran and world powers could be within reach.</p>
<p>The news seems to be horrendous for the leaders of the Mujahedin Khalq who have been fishing in the troubled waters between Iran and its adversaries, for years. The enemy of their enemy is turning out to become the friend of their enemy!</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12657">The MEK supporters know about its unpopularity in Iran</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>MEK Israel Derailing Failed – Democrats Try New Tactic</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12652</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2021 03:43:33 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12652</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has alleged that negotiators don’t yet know if Tehran is serious about making a deal in Vienna. The US negotiators are talking with Iran’s&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12652">MEK Israel Derailing Failed – Democrats Try New Tactic</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has alleged that negotiators don’t yet know if Tehran is serious about making a deal in Vienna. The US negotiators are talking with Iran’s negotiators on the sidelines of the meetings of the remaining JCPOA signatories. But perhaps the opposite is true. In spite of severe provocation, Iran did not abandon the talks and has kept its baseline proposition – if the US wants to re-join the JCPOA it must credibly lift sanctions and Iran will scale back its nuclear enrichment to agreed levels. Maybe, by focusing heavily on Iran’s compliance without offering a clear commitment to lifting the sanctions, it is the US that is not serious about the talks.</p>
<p>Of course, from the start, opponents of the JCPOA agreement tried to derail the talks in Vienna which involved the US on the sidelines. Israel, Saudi Arabia and US neocons have all objected to the nuclear deal in the past. They have been active during the talks to prevent progress. The US has not reacted to this interference.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-12340 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104.jpg" alt="female operative of MEK in vienna" width="1000" height="605" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104.jpg 1000w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104-300x182.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104-768x465.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p>
<p>On its arrival in Vienna at the start of April, Iran’s delegation was confronted with a small picket of MEK supporters who heckled and threatened violence against them. The MEK demand is to end all negotiations with Iran, scrap the JCPOA and declare war instead. Although the MEK leadership has been expelled from the EU to Albania, it still receives tacit support from within the US embassy there. While the MEK remains a minor irritant to Iran due to its history of treachery and terrorism, US tolerance of what it regards as a terrorist cult signals a lack of sincerity on America’s behalf.</p>
<p>On a more serious level, Israel embarked on a course of action which could have provoked Iran into retaliation and withdrawal from the talks. However, despite an attack on Iran’s nuclear plant and its naval presence in the Persian Gulf and beyond, Iran did not abandon the talks as anticipated. The aim of Israel, as with the MEK, has been to drive a wedge between Iran and the US and EU so as to end the talks. This has not worked. The US continues talking with Iran.</p>
<p>However, the US has not condemned the Israeli nuclear attack, nor taken steps to curtail the unwanted activities of the MEK. In this context, it is not clear whether the Americans have had to come up with a different tactic. Rather than relying on external sources of disruption and hindrance to control the terms of talks with Iran, the US is now playing the blame game: Iran is not serious.</p>
<p>The US accusation looks hollow. Allowing the MEK to continue with its false narratives disseminated from the click farm in Albania can only be read by Iran as acting in bad faith. The US cannot control the Israeli reaction. But it can act to stop the MEK activity. A return to the de-radicalisation program instigated by the Obama administration in 2016 would be a good place to start.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12652">MEK Israel Derailing Failed – Democrats Try New Tactic</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>MKO-backed group resorts to insults to undermine Vienna talks</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12637</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 May 2021 03:40:30 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12637</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Setting up a tent in front of the Grand Hotel Wien, where the nuclear negotiations are ongoing, a small group affiliated with Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization (MKO also known as&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12637">MKO-backed group resorts to insults to undermine Vienna talks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Setting up a tent in front of the Grand Hotel Wien, where the nuclear negotiations are ongoing, a small group affiliated with Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization (MKO also known as MEK), insulted Iran&#8217;s negotiation team.</p>
<p>This is while intensive negotiations continue between Iran and P4+1 to reach an agreement on the full revival of JCPOA and the lifting of oppressive sanctions against the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Resorting to some tools such as insulting the Iranian negotiation team and distributing some notes among passers-by, the group called on European countries to halt the nuclear talks and cancel the JCPOA completely.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-12339 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104.jpg" alt="Araghchi in Vienna" width="1000" height="666" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104.jpg 1000w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p>
<p>These people, whose number is less than 10, are quite noticeably being coordinated by the elements affiliated with the Iran International TV.</p>
<p>The use of powerful loudspeakers near the hotel in Vienna has disturbed the order of the surrounding buildings and pedestrians.</p>
<p>One of them even has clashed with the police.</p>
<p>It is worth mentioning that the Austrian police, who is responsible for the full protection of the negotiating venue and the negotiating teams, does not allow them to approach.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12637">MKO-backed group resorts to insults to undermine Vienna talks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>Mujahedin-e Khalq blacked out in Biden policy shift</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12587</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 May 2021 08:03:29 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq Organization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paid advocacy for MKO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The MEK's terrorist activities]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12587</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Facebook has closed hundreds of fake accounts linked to the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK), a move that will be cheered in Tehran and raise questions about official US&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12587">Mujahedin-e Khalq blacked out in Biden policy shift</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Facebook has closed hundreds of fake accounts linked to the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK), a move that will be cheered in Tehran and raise questions about official US attitudes about the group under the new Joe Biden administration.</p>
<p>Over 300 accounts, pages and groups believed to be affiliated with the MEK, also known as MKO, were tagged by Facebook for egregious online behavior including disseminating misinformation to discredit the Iranian government.</p>
<p>Facebook ascertained that the majority of the accounts were operated from a single location in Albania and almost universally projected a favorable image of the otherwise historically infamous group some even liken to a cult.</p>
<p>Whether Facebook’s actions came at the request of the Biden administration is unclear, but any such move would be perceived as an olive branch in Tehran at a time the two sides dance around resuming the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal.</p>
<p>MEK, a former guerilla group established in 1965, enjoyed broad support among the foreign policy team of former US president Donald Trump, who scrapped the JCPOA and imposed new sanctions on Iran. Top Trump officials made open overtures to MEK, espousing its members as potential replacements to the incumbent Iranian government.</p>
<p>Although the Trump administration never overtly stated that regime change was its goal for Iran, officials including then-national security advisor John Bolton and the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani had on different occasions extolled MEK as a symbol of freedom vis-à-vis Iran’s authoritarian, theocratic regime.</p>
<p>Trump’s was a generous portrayal. MEK is a political-militant organization whose ultimate aim is to overthrow the Iranian government. It was part of the popular movement that led to the 1979 revolution in Iran that brought the Islamic Republic to power, but quickly fell from grace and became disillusioned after its former leader, Massoud Rajavi, was blocked from standing as a candidate in the first post-revolution presidential election.</p>
<p>The most acrimonious episode between the MEK and the Islamic Republic occurred when the group allied with late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after he invaded Iran in 1980 and took up arms against fellow Iranian citizens to overturn the then newly-born revolution. Working in cahoots with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War painted the MEK as a treacherous, malign force in the eyes of many Iranians.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-10851 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Terror_7tir_2.jpg" alt="7Tir Terror" width="600" height="371" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Terror_7tir_2.jpg 600w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Terror_7tir_2-300x186.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>The official Iranian account is that the MEK has the blood of some 17,000 Iranians on its hands, including former President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and former Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar, whom it assassinated along with six other senior officials on August 30, 1981.</p>
<p>However, the MEK’s history of violence is not confined to aggression against Iranian citizens. The group subscribed to a fierce anti-American ideology in the 1970s and hit several American targets inside Iran in a string of bombings that hit the US information office, Pepsi Cola, PanAm and General Motors.</p>
<p>A State Department inquiry in 1992 found the MEK guilty of killing six American citizens, including three military officers and three men hired by Rockwell International, a manufacturing company that ceased its operations in 2001.</p>
<p>In 1991, the MEK’s armed wing hatched a plot with Iraq’s Saddam to brutally quell an uprising by Iraqi Kurds in the north and Shias in the south. In April 1992, the group launched attacks against Iranian embassies and diplomatic premises in 13 countries, including Iran’s mission to the United Nations.</p>
<p>Citing its campaigns of terror and killing, the US State Department under Bill Clinton’s administration blacklisted the MEK in 1997 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a designation which detractors of the Iranian government claimed was aimed at appeasing the Islamic Republic and giving a boost to moderates rising to power in Tehran.</p>
<p>In 1986, Saddam set up an enclave for MEK militants in the Diyala Governorate, which came to be known as Camp Ashraf. It hosted nearly 3,500 MEK exiles and continued to be their major shelter until 2016, when it was shuttered by the Iraqi government no doubt under pressure from Tehran.</p>
<p>The Barack Obama administration made a deal with the Albanian government in 2013, under the supervision of the UNHCR, to offer the MEK members asylum. The small Balkan peninsula has been their base since 2016, from which they orchestrate their online misinformation activities.</p>
<p>Although it enjoys protection in Albania, some experts are concerned the group, known for its Marxist ideologies, could seek to foment sectarian divides in the host country.</p>
<p>Sources in Albania tell Asia Times that despite the deal reached between the Obama administration and the Albanian government, the MEK is not viewed favorably by the Albanian public.</p>
<div id="attachment_9994" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-9994" class="wp-image-9994 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_24.jpg" alt="Maryam Rajavi" width="600" height="394" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_24.jpg 600w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_24-300x197.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-9994" class="wp-caption-text">MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has a popularity problem both at home and in exile.</p></div>
<p>“When MEK was officially relocated from Iraq to Albania in 2016, the Albanian public opinion and media protested their coming. However, the Americans who had convinced the Albanian government to host MEK in the country, gave total support to Edi Rama’s regime to host them in Albania,” said Olsi Jazexhi a Canadian-Albanian historian specializing in the history of Islam and nationalism in Southeastern Europe.</p>
<p>Jazexhi notes many of the MEK’s activities, including money laundering, radicalization and human trafficking, violate Albanian law. Yet Albania’s major political parties have thrown their weight behind MEK and its leader Maryam Rajavi to coax the US into supporting them to win parliamentary elections, a reflection of the country’s political fragility.</p>
<p>“The Albanian government has allowed the MEK to build a paramilitary camp in the town of Manza, in Durres. From this camp, the MEK wages war in different ways – from psychological, indoctrination, online and probably even physical against Iran.</p>
<p>“What the MEK does is considered a crime according to the Albanian Penal Code and if Maryam Rajavi was to be Albanian, she would have been jailed for at least 15 years,” claimed Jazexhi.</p>
<p>The MEK also maintains a presence in France. From 1981 to 1986, France functioned as the MEK’s European bastion, but an agreement between the Iranian government and then French President Jacques Chirac over securing the release of two French hostages in Lebanon kept captive by the Iran-allied Hezbollah, stipulated that MEK members were expelled from the European territory.</p>
<p>In 2003, as tensions flared up between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, France renewed its offer to shelter MEK operatives and the group chieftain Maryam Rajavi resided there for a spell. MEK organizes annual rallies in the Paris suburb of Villepinte, which are filled by thousands of Iranian and non-Iranians.</p>
<p>MEK was characterized as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada and Japan, as well as the United States until the early 2010s. Intense lobbying by the group coupled with the Iranian government’s international isolation, convinced these countries to jettison the terrorist labeling. As a recognized “dissident” group, it has been given latitude to operate and mobilize internationally and reassert itself as a legitimate opposition party with “democratic” aspirations.</p>
<p>In particular, the 2012 decision by Obama’s then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to delist the MEK as a terror group brought the syndicate above ground, allowing it to court and lobby top American politicians and officials.</p>
<div id="attachment_8318" style="width: 660px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-8318" class="wp-image-8318 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/US_Rajavi_Lobby.jpg" alt="US Rajavi lobby" width="650" height="433" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/US_Rajavi_Lobby.jpg 650w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/US_Rajavi_Lobby-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" /><p id="caption-attachment-8318" class="wp-caption-text">Iran’s Mohajedeen e Khalq: MEK Money Sure Can’t Buy Love But it can buy a lot of politicians</p></div>
<p>MEK has since launched a campaign, including through Facebook campaigns, to bury its unsavory past. The Guardian reported the group paid at least US$20,000 to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the former chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, $14,000 to former House of Representatives member from California Bob Filner and “thousands of dollars” to former representatives Ted Poe, Mike Rogers and Dana Rohrabacher, who all accepted generous donations from the MEK and other Iranian-American organizations to advocate for its de-banning.</p>
<p>The MEK also paid at least $1.5 million to three leading Washington lobbying firms – DLA Piper, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &amp; Feld and DiGenova &amp; Toensing – and more than $150,000 in speaking fees to former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell in its terror delisting campaign.</p>
<p>In recent years, MEK events have featured high-profile American, European and Canadian guests who have been paid hefty gratuities to speak in support of the group, with many waxing lyrical about Maryam Rajavi’s cult as a democratic alternative to the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Donald Trump’s national security advisor Bolton, former mayor of New York City and Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean are among the stalwart partisans of the MEK. All have heaped praise on the organization as one that can bring the Iranian people freedom and democracy.</p>
<p>They have, however, not gone into their MEK raptures free of charge. John Bolton, for example, is estimated to have received at least $180,000 for speaking at several MEK events through 2018. In one of the most famous ones in 2017, Bolton vowed to celebrate the “fall of the regime” along with MEK members in Tehran before 2019.</p>
<p>Due to the MEK’s lack of transparency and the enigmatic nature of its workings, few details have trickled out about its financial sources, but some informed observers believe Iran’s regional rivals in the Persian Gulf may be among its benefactors.</p>
<p>“The MEK regularly pays tens of thousands of dollars to American politicians to speak at their annual conference outside Paris. The source of these funds is opaque, posing serious questions about who is paying high-profile US politicians to speak in support of the MEK and their regime change efforts in Iran,” said Eli Clifton, an investigative journalist and research director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft’s Democratizing Foreign Policy Program.</p>
<p>“However, [Saudi] Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud’s remarks at a MEK conference in 2016, in which he expressed his support for the group, lends credibility to the reports that Saudi Arabia may be a funding source,” he added.</p>
<p>Despite its insistence that it stands up for democracy, the MEK is sensitive to criticism and often harshly smears journalists and academics, particularly Iranian correspondents in the international media, who report on its conduct and policies.</p>
<p>Certain MEK defectors have taken the lid off the secrets of serving the organization, with reports of its rigid enforcement of celibacy and restrictions on members’ relationships with their families.</p>
<div id="attachment_10557" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-10557" class="wp-image-10557 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK_Women_10.jpg" alt="MEK women" width="600" height="359" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK_Women_10.jpg 600w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK_Women_10-300x180.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-10557" class="wp-caption-text">Female soldiers of the National Liberation Army of Iran stand in formation at a training camp east of Baghdad, Iraq. Women make up nearly half of the NLA, the armed wing of the MEK.<br />Photo: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images</p></div>
<p>To demonstrate allegiance to the cult’s leader, MEK members are required to remain unmarried and promise that they won’t give up the practice. Forced medical sterilization for female cadres so they devote themselves to the organization unconditionally has been imposed on members living in MEK camps.</p>
<p>The MEK’s now at least partially shuttered social media machine is intricate and multi-layered. Using troll armies and hundreds of online hirelings across the world, it disseminates fake news, hijacks popular hashtags related to Iran on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and circulates narratives portraying the state of life in Iran in an unswervingly negative light.</p>
<p>The top results for the hashtag “#Iran” on Twitter almost universally return pages belonging to MEK members and advertising the speeches of Maryam Rajavi.</p>
<p>A 2019 investigation by the American non-profit media company The Intercept found that Heshmat Alavi, an “Iranian activist” who published articles on such noted American publications as Forbes, The Hill, Daily Caller as well as The Diplomat and Al-Arabiya English attacking the Iranian government and adulating the MEK as “democratic” was actually a fake persona “run by a team of people from the political wing of the MEK.”</p>
<p>“Western politicians or governments who agree to associate themselves with the MEK are making a mistake. Morally, it is a bad idea, since the group is basically a violent and corrupt cult. Strategically, it is also lunacy, since the group has no support inside Iran. In fact, it is widely hated,” claimed Thomas Juneau, an Iran expert and associate professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa.</p>
<p>“It is not, in any conceivable way, an alternative to the Islamic Republic. Why do politicians do this? Money is certainly one reason. For political reasons, I assume some are also keen to be seen to be associated with opponents of a regime that definitely deserves to be opposed.”</p>
<p>Whether the political tide is turning against the MEK under the Biden administration is yet to be decisively seen, but Washington’s official disassociation with the group will almost certainly be on Iran’s list of JCPOA negotiation points. The Facebook ban would seem to signal at least a tentative step in that direction.</p>
<p>by Kourosh Ziabari</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12587">Mujahedin-e Khalq blacked out in Biden policy shift</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>Mujahedin-e-Khalq MEK In Vienna</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12588</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 May 2021 05:06:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq Declining]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12588</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>As the Vienna talks about compliance with the JCPOA continue, participating countries need, of course, to report to their domestic audience via the media what has transpired, what their negotiating&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12588">Mujahedin-e-Khalq MEK In Vienna</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As the Vienna talks about compliance with the JCPOA continue, participating countries need, of course, to report to their domestic audience via the media what has transpired, what their negotiating position has been and what they got for their efforts.</p>
<p>For President Biden, of course, there is the added burden of laying out the achievements of his first 100 days – failure to re-join the JCPOA as promised being a thorny issue. Iran however has found the perfect go to distraction. Iran – which is heading for presidential elections in June – can easily boost the righteousness of Ayatollah Khamenei’s negotiating red lines by framing the American approach to the talks as grounded in bad faith and bad intent. All it took was to mention that five supporters of the MEK have been in Vienna there to protest.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-12340 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104.jpg" alt="female operative of MEK in vienna" width="1000" height="605" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104.jpg 1000w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104-300x182.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Mem-Vienna-202104-768x465.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p>
<p>Iranian papers reported that a small gathering of Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) supporters took up position outside the Grand Hotel which hosts the talks, where they cursed and swore to try to intimidate the Iran delegation. Their demand: an end to diplomacy and for the US to declare war against Iran. Iran’s interpretation to its domestic audience in the run up to the presidential election in June, is that the West is simply playing games using anti-Iranian terrorists, and that this shows that neither America nor Europe is serious about the talks or establishing normal relations with Iran.</p>
<p>In Iran, MEK has become shorthand for ‘the threat to national security from the west’. The negotiators do not need to defend their work. It is enough to denounce the MEK’s unchecked presence in Vienna to demonstrate that the blame lies on the west’s side. It would be foolish to underestimate just how despised the MEK are among Iranians. Every school child on a trip to their local war museum will pass through a section graphically describing the MEK’s deadly collaboration with Saddam Hussein during the eight-year war. The MEK waged a two-decade long terrorist campaign against Iranian civilians that, by its own admission, killed up to 17,000 people. Worse, the MEK continues to act as mercenaries to foreign powers which seek to damage Iranian national interests, including assassination of nuclear scientists, and generals Shirazi and Soleimani. With this history, it is unsurprising that Iran’s leaders find fertile soil to plant anti-west opinion in the population.</p>
<p>To be fair, Europe has tried to curtail MEK activity in recent years, finding it counter to its stated goals of diplomacy with Iran. In 2018 the MEK leader Maryam Rajavi was expelled from Europe on security grounds and set up her new headquarters in Albania. But in Albania support from within the Trump administration allowed the MEK to continue to conduct itself as it has for the past forty years – using intimidation, corruption and propaganda under the protection of the CIA to pursue its anti-Iranian agenda. Not only does this play a major factor in why Albania will not be able to join the EU, the presence of MEK supporters now in Vienna fatally undermines the EU’s position vis-à-vis Iran.</p>
<p>We wrote back in January and again in April that President Biden could score a quick and effective Iran policy win by dismantling the MEK in Albania where the CIA has a free hand. Among the benefits for his administration would be to help stem the flow of foreign funds and false propaganda narratives that continue to hinder and could even destroy America’s opportunity to re-join the JCPOA and position itself to influence future demands on Iran. It would also remove the MEK as a stick with which Iran can beat its opponents – as it has done in this case. Failure to grasp this simple equation is surely based in America’s blindness to its own growing weaknesses and to Iran’s growing military and diplomatic capabilities.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12588">Mujahedin-e-Khalq MEK In Vienna</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>Attempts to sabotage America&#8217;s return to the Iran nuclear deal</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12445</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2021 07:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran nuclear deal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MKO Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohsen Fakhrizadeh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq and Spying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Third View on Mujahedin Khalq]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12445</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Attempts to sabotage America&#8217;s return to the Iran nuclear deal. When the United States (US) and Iran held a meeting in Vienna last week &#8211; Iran&#8217;s Natanz nuclear facility suddenly&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12445">Attempts to sabotage America&#8217;s return to the Iran nuclear deal</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Attempts to sabotage America&#8217;s return to the Iran nuclear deal. When the United States (US) and Iran held a meeting in Vienna last week &#8211; Iran&#8217;s Natanz nuclear facility suddenly came under a power cut sabotage attack. Reports indicate that the Mossad, Israel&#8217;s intelligence agency, was behind the attack.</p>
<p>The latest attack follows a number of explosions that took place across Iran last summer as a series of Israeli strikes in an attempt to derail negotiations &#8211; given that during the US presidential election campaign, Biden promised that if elected he would reinstate the US in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (JCPOA) that Trump withdrew in 2018.</p>
<div id="attachment_11290" style="width: 710px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-11290" class="wp-image-11290 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Fakhrizade-Mohsen-Terror-3.jpg" alt="Mohsen fakhrizade" width="700" height="387" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Fakhrizade-Mohsen-Terror-3.jpg 700w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Fakhrizade-Mohsen-Terror-3-300x166.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><p id="caption-attachment-11290" class="wp-caption-text">Mohsen fakhrizade- iran nuclear scientists assassinated &#8211; israel &#8211; mek</p></div>
<p>Iran, aware of Israel&#8217;s hard and open game, does not seem provoked to retaliate, including responding to the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/11279">Fakhrizadeh</a>, carried out by Israel using sophisticated weapons in November 2020 in the city of Absard outside Tehran.</p>
<p>Not only through attacks, high-ranking Israeli officials also went directly to lobbying the US Congress to cancel the agreement. This time, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen will travel to Washington to meet top White House and US intelligence officials, and hopes to meet in person with Biden to make sure that Iran cannot be trusted because it has hidden details about its nuclear program.</p>
<p>It is ironic, considering that Israel itself has never disclosed about its nuclear weapons and refuses to disclose any information about its program.</p>
<p>Apart from that, Iran&#8217;s enemies on American soil also did not stay silent to thwart Iran&#8217;s nuclear diplomacy. Like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Israeli lobby group tried to convince Biden not to return to the JCPOA. Even last month AIPAC pressed the Biden administration using the hands of the House and Senate to demand an expanded deal that includes missiles, human rights and Iranian activities in the region. If the pressure is successful, of course Tehran will refuse to continue talks with Washington.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the neoconservative think-tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), which worked within the Trump administration during and after Trump withdrew from the JCPOA, has been relentlessly pushing for war with Iran. This came to light most clearly when former CIA officer and FDD colleague Reuel Marc Gerecht, speaking on CNN on April 11 voiced their disappointment that Trump had not led the US and Iran to war.</p>
<p>Then there is the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) group, one of the most powerful pro-Israel voices in the US that recently urged the Senate not to confirm Colin Kahl&#8217;s top policy position at the Pentagon, claiming “Kahl was the one driving the US comeback. in the Iran nuclear deal.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-12229 size-full" src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_Giuliani_2.jpg" alt="Maryam Rajavi and Giuliani" width="700" height="393" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_Giuliani_2.jpg 700w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_Giuliani_2-300x168.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Rajavi_Maryam_Giuliani_2-390x220.jpg 390w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></p>
<p>Do not miss the Mujahidin-e Khalq terrorist organization, abbreviated as MEK, which is known for its killings and bombings. This terrorist organization strongly opposes US-Iran diplomacy. In March 2021, a number of US Senators, including Senator Bob Menendez, the strong chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, attended a virtual event hosted by the MEK-backed Iranian American Community Organization (OIAC) calling for continued US sanctions on Iran.</p>
<p>fakhrIsrael, AIPAC, CUFI, FDD, MEK, Menendez, and similar groups probably really hope that Iran will immediately take revenge as often called by their top brass. If Iran takes revenge, it will certainly drag the US into a war it will not necessarily win. (Agus Setiawan)</p>
<p>NUSANTARANEWS.CO &#8211; originally Indonesian &#8211; Translated by Nejat Society</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12445">Attempts to sabotage America&#8217;s return to the Iran nuclear deal</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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		<title>US Iran Talks Undermined by MEK Presence</title>
		<link>https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12376</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Nejat Society]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2021 06:48:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Araghchi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[JCPOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The MEK and Acts of Treason]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The MEK and the Iranian People]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.nejatngo.org/en/?p=12376</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Iran has said talks will still go ahead in Vienna in spite of an attack on its nuclear facility at Natanz on Sunday. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Israel was&#8230;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12376">US Iran Talks Undermined by MEK Presence</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Iran has said talks will still go ahead in Vienna in spite of an attack on its nuclear facility at Natanz on Sunday. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Israel was behind the cyber-attack but stressed Iran would not fall into the trap of halting talks. Indeed, efforts to move beyond the Trump legacy in relation to the JCPOA last week have been constructive. Shuttle (or rather hotel hopping) diplomacy between Iran and America with France, Germany, UK, China, Russia and EU negotiators acting as go between have brought the sides closer to agreement. All sides have been willing to engage. The Americans – the Biden administration – frontingtrea a deeply divided nation successfully navigated the dangerous rocks of the domestic audience. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi later reported there were signs that the Americans would be willing to lift all the sanctions in one go to return to the JCPOA. Talks resume this week.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" width="600" height="450" class="aligncenter wp-image-12377 size-full"src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Iran-Vienna-1.jpg"alt="Iran vienna"width="600"height="450" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Iran-Vienna-1.jpg 600w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Iran-Vienna-1-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>It is inevitable though that as the two sides inch toward making workable compromises that will lead to the reinstatement of the JCPOA, enemies of the deal will do their utmost to derail it. As well as Israel, Saudi Arabia and US neocons are poised to oppose. For this reason, at the outset of the talks the Iranians passed their concerns to the Austrian police and security services, warning that the Albanian based Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult would be sure to lob a symbolic stink bomb or two to toxify the atmosphere. Forewarned, Austrian police were able to curtail MEK activity, except for one lone MEK protestor who managed to shout at Araghchi and his colleague as they emerged from the building to get into their car.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" width="1000" height="666" class="aligncenter wp-image-12339 size-full"src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104.jpg"alt="Araghchi in Vienna"width="1000"height="666" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104.jpg 1000w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Araghchi-Vienna-202104-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p>
<p>This alone was such a trivial incident that analysts examining the talks in Vienna may be forgiven for missing the significance of this small detail. But there it was, hidden in plain sight, the west’s go to tool for regime change. The MEK, as ever, threatening to hijack the Iran agenda. It is beyond a joke that this rogue group which is infamous for using violence – whether in terrorist attacks in and beyond Iran, against its own members and former members, in the service of Israeli assassinations and false ops – and which threatens mass suicide whenever it feels existentially threatened, should be free to deploy ‘protesters’ to interrupt these high-level talks in Europe.</p>
<p><strong>How come the MEK is still tolerated?</strong><br />
It’s certain that the Biden administration officials did not want the MEK to interfere in these efforts to engage Iran in talks. It’s even likely that the majority of Republicans would not condone this. The MEK has become synonymous with Donald Trump’s approach to Iran – fabricate and inflate the threat posed by Iran to the Middle East (read Israel and Saudi Arabia), and threaten war and punish the whole country with extreme sanctions. This cannot be and was not the American opening position in Vienna this week.</p>
<p>Even Facebook has tired of them and their ilk. Last week, Facebook blocked 300 MEK-linked accounts; though this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of MEK’s social media presence. After 2017, the MEK took advantage of the Trump administration’s confrontational approach to Iran and built a slave camp in Albania under the auspices of the CIA in which it housed a click farm and troll accounts to unduly influence western opinion on Iran. It was in this camp, remember, that Rudi Giuliani symbolically spat on and tore up a copy of the JCPOA document.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" width="1000" height="626" class="aligncenter wp-image-12335 size-full"src="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/FB-MEK-1.jpg"alt="facebook"width="1000"height="626" srcset="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/FB-MEK-1.jpg 1000w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/FB-MEK-1-300x188.jpg 300w, https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/FB-MEK-1-768x481.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></p>
<p>However, it is worth noting that the majority of the MEK’s propaganda sites and social media accounts are in English. Their Farsi presence is negligible. The few Farsi sites they have are only viewed in the hundreds by their own supporters. Among the 80 million population of Iran the MEK are either unknown or hated as a treacherous group that sided with Saddam Hussein to attack their homeland in the 80-88 war. For a group which has spent millions of dollars and uses click farm slaves to convince western policy makers that the group is the vanguard of regime change, they have not shown any evidence that anyone in Iran is behind them – or even aware of them. So, to answer the question, ‘why are the MEK still here in 2021?’ It’s not because they are successful, it’s because no one has chosen to stop them.</p>
<p>As the Vienna talks demonstrate, rolling back the Trump administration’s errors in relation to Iran can be difficult. In some cases, such as the assassination of general Qasem Soleimani, impossible. But direct talks are not the only means to that end. We wrote in January that a quick, effective and pain free policy win for Biden on Iran would be to return to the Obama administration’s plan to dismantle the MEK in Albania. This would achieve several outcomes. It would signal to the Iranian people that America will not pursue a foreign policy based on terrorism and violence against them. It would free the two thousand slave members of the MEK in Albania and allow them to return to their families and civilian life. It would help stem an inflow of some foreign funds into America that is used to skew analysis and policy making on Iran. (The MEK is funded largely by Saudi Arabia and amplifies its anti-Iran propaganda.) It would also, and this is relevant at this moment, rob the Iranian hardliners of their weapon; the MEK is used as the stick to beat the west over ‘terrorist interference’ in the country, as indeed happened in Vienna. If compromise is to be reached, the Iranians should at least not be given grounds by the MEK presence there to complain of American double standards.</p>
<p>By Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/12376">US Iran Talks Undermined by MEK Presence</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.nejatngo.org/en">Nejat Society</a>.</p>
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