The Third View on Mujahedin Khalq

Albanian Government gives 1.8 million Leks to buy smartphones and laptops for mujahideen

The arrival of the mujahidin, or asylum seekers in Albania found the reception center in Babrru, Tirana, “unprepared”.

The Interior Ministry opened a tender for the purpose of buying smartphones and laptops for this center, and it is not known why these devices.

According to the documents available to the Albanian newspaper Shqip, the National Reception Centre for asylum seekers has opened the tender tittlet “Purchase of equipments and office products.”

The limit fund is 1.84 million leks and the duration of the contract or time limit for completion is 10 days from the date of the signing of the contract.

In the anticipation of the status of asylum procedures, the mujahideen will stay for several months in the camp and then accommodated in flats on the outskirts of Tirana, set by the Albanian Government and organizations for their protection.

Based on the agreement with the US, in the coming weeks is expected to arrive in Albania hundreds of other mujahideen. They are already in the process of integration in our society

ocnal.com

September 7, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Washington uses the MKO to fight a covert war against Iran

Muslim Press has conducted an interview with political commentator Yuram Abdullah Weiler to discuss the MKO terrorist group and its recent activities.

Here’s the full text of the interview:

MP: Mr. Abdullah, what’s your take on the MKO terrorist group and its recent activities?

Yuram Abdullah: Known also by the acronyms MEK and PMOI (The People’s Mujahedin and the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran), the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization is dedicated to the violent overthrow of the legitimate government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. With the MKO’s removal from the list, the terrorist organization can legally seek funding from the U.S. government, some of whose officials have already received hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for speaking on its behalf.

In an especially flagrant display of double standards, the United States removed the Mujahedin-e Khalq from the country’s list of designated terrorist organizations, as announced by the U.S. State Department on September 28, 2012. The delisting and support of the MKO by the United States, a terrorist organization that has killed over 12,000 Iranians, is perhaps is one of its most hypocritical and duplicitous acts of state-sponsored terrorism against Iran in the post-9/11 period.

MP: Can you shed more light on why Iranians despise the MKO members?

Yuram Abdullah: While the MKO did participate in the Islamic Revolution, later on it withdrew its support, refusing to participate in a public referendum and began to directly oppose the fledgling government of Islamic Republic of Iran. The about face came after Ayatollah Khomeini had submitted the proposed constitution for an Islamic government to a public referendum on December 2,1979, urging support of the referendum and warning that abstaining or voting “no” would amount to aiding and abetting the United States, and desecrating the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution.

Following the 1981 impeachment of Abol Hassan Bani Sadr, who was suspected of CIA involvement, the MKO called for massive demonstrations against the nascent government on June 20 compelling security officials to initiate a crackdown on the group. On June 28, the MKO began a series of lethal terrorist attacks in an attempt to topple the government beginning with the bombing of the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party during a meeting of party leaders, killing Ayatollah Mohammed Beheshti along with four cabinet ministers, twenty-seven members of the Majlis and several other government officials for a total of 74 fatalities.

Following the attempted overthrow of the government in June 1981 by the MKO, Bani Sadr along with Masoud Rajavi, and other leaders of the organization fled Iran for Paris on July 29 where they established the National Council of Resistance (NCR). After being evicted from France in 1986, Rajavi relocated the MKO to Iraq, where, receiving asylum and financial support from Saddam, he formed in 1987 the National Liberation Army (NLA), the military wing of the MKO, with himself as commander in chief.

The NLA used Iraq as a base to launch multiple attacks across the border into Iran. In June and July 1988, the NLA participated in a joint invasion into Iran with Iraqi forces, which used chemical weapons against Iranians. The NLA, claiming to have killed 40,000 Iranians in their assault, briefly captured the Iranian border towns of Mehran, Karand, and Islamabad-e Gharb, but were routed by Iranian reinforcements. The Habilian organization puts the number of Iranian victims of the MKO at around 12,000, which is certainly sufficient to account for the despised status of the MKO, whose members are referred to within Iran as “munafeqin” or hypocrites.

MP: Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei has compared MKO to ISIS in their barbaric acts. What could you say about this?

Yuram Abdullah: A brief examination of the MKO’s recent record will certainly verify this assertion. In 1991 after the first Persian Gulf War, the MKO assisted Saddam in his sanguine suppression of the Shi’a uprisings, which had been incited by George H.W. Bush, and continued to serve the tyrant well as a supplemental internal security force for his regime. On April 5, 1992, the MKO conducted a series of near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian Embassies, diplomatic missions and installations in 13 countries, including the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Australia. On July 16, the MKO carried out an attack on an automobile carrying Iranian Foreign Minister Velayati during a visit to Potsdam. Similar MKO terror operations have occurred in other European countries, including France, Italy, and Switzerland, just like Daesh.

The MKO has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Iran. On August 20, 1992, the terrorist organization claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the home of the Majlis deputy in the city of Kudasht in the province of Loristan in a report broadcast on the “Voice of Mojahed” radio. On October 12, the MKO claimed responsibility for twin bomb blasts at Imam Khomeini’s mausoleum south of Tehran, which has thousands of visitors each day. On October 15, they claimed credit for blowing up a gas station in Qom. Then, on October 26, the MKO took credit in a report broadcast on the “Voice of Mojahed” radio for detonating a bomb at a local Revolutionary Guard outpost in the town of Qasr-e Firuzeh.

In 1994 and 1995, the terrorist group carried out a series of mortar and bomb attacks on civilian targets including automobiles, highways, public government buildings, businesses, and private homes. In April 1999, the terrorist organization assassinated the deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of Iran, and carried out mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military and law enforcement units, and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border throughout the years 2000 and 2001.

MP: Do you think anti-Iran countries are trying to revive this group?

Yuram Abdullah: Just as the U.S. used the Afghan mujahedin for a covert U.S. war to fight a proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the U.S. is using the MKO in conjunction with Mossad to fight a covert war against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And the U.S. has even trained members of the MKO at the U.S. Department of Energy Nevada Security Site under the auspices of the Joint Operations Special Command between 2005 and 2008. According to an unnamed source, as a result of the Nevada JSOC training, “MKO now has a capacity for efficient operations that it never had before.”

Additionally, senior U.S. officials have confirmed that the MKO, working through the Zionist spy organization Mossad, has been responsible for carrying out the assassinations since 2007 of five top Iranian scientists: Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan on Jan. 11, 2012; Darioush Rezaei-Nejad on July 23, 2011; Majid Shahriari on November 29, 2010; Massoud Ali-Mohammadi on January 12, 2010; and, Ardeshir Hosseinpour on January 15, 2007.

MP: MKO has formed a close relationship with Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Mahmoud Abbas. What’s your opinion about these flourishing relationships?

Yuram Abdullah: On 9 July 2016, former Saudi intelligence chief and former Saudi ambassador to Britain and the United States Prince Turki al-Faisal Al Saud spoke for 30 minutes before a crowd in Paris, France gathered for the annual conference of the MKO. This is not totally surprising, for there has been a long list of U.S. politicians, including Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and U.N. ambassador under Bill Clinton, and former Vermont governor Howard Dean, have spoken to and received handsome fees from the MKO. These fees, in the neighborhood of $25,000 each, may have been funded by Saudi Arabia, so covert support of the MKO may not be a recent development.

In contrast, al-Faisal’s overtly inflammatory rhetoric against Ayatollah Khomeini however was indeed shocking. Stating that Iran was infected with a “Khomeini cancer,” al-Faisal, openly called for regime change by declaring, “I, too, want the downfall of the regime.” The rhetoric directly threatening the Islamic Republic of Iran may have been for its support of the legitimate government in Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, and for its support of Houthi resistance fighters in Yemen. At a minimum, al-Faisal’s announcement certainly chills any further efforts by Tehran to deice diplomatic relations with Riyadh.

The U.S., the Israeli entity, and the Saudis appear to have convergent interests in destabilizing Iran with the ultimate goal of toppling the Islamic government and installing a pro-western client regime. Certainly U.S. and Saudi support for terrorist organizations to fight their proxy wars is nothing new and the symbiotic relationship dates back to the 1980s, when Washington and Riyadh partnered to fund the Afghan mujahedin, which later morphed into the terrorist group al-Qa’idah.

As far as Mahmoud Abbas’ meeting with Maryam Razavi three weeks after al-Faisal’s disclosure, it is not clear what the aging American puppet hoped to accomplish. As a largely irrelevant figure in the fight for the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people, Abbas may have simply desired to show himself as associating with an opponent of Iran, which is a requirement to remain in the good graces of the U.S. and the Israeli entity. On the other hand, the Abbas-MKO meeting may signal the reestablishment of a Fatah-MKO coalition, which fought together against Iran during the 1980-1988 Iraq-imposed (and U.S.-backed) war.

MP: France has recently hosted a meeting of this terrorist group. How does this affect Iranian-French relations?

Yuram Abdullah: As previously mentioned, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a political front for the MKO, hosts an annual conference in Paris to gather together the diverse elements of the “Iranian opposition.” It is quite telling this year that the keynote speaker was former White House Director of Public Liaison Linda Chavez, who spoke of the “Iranian resistance,” by which she meant the MKO, as the only way to establish democracy in Iran. Chavez’s speech along with those by a number of other American officials demonstrates the untrustworthiness of the U.S. to live up to its commitments in the JCPOA.

As far as the effect of the MKO conference and relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and France, recall that back in January, President Rouhani and French president Hollande signed trade agreements worth billions of U.S. dollars; the deal with Air Bus for 18 planes was worth $25 billion alone. But relations between Iran and France have had their vicissitudes. France appeared to take a hardline approach to the JCPOA, but in view of the state of the French economy, I doubt that Hollande is going to squelch the lucrative deals he has cut with Iran because of another conference held by the MKO.

By Yuram Abdullah Weiler , Muslim Press

Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer educated in mathematics turned writer and political critic who has written over 130 articles on Islam, social justice, economics, and politics focusing on the Middle East and U.S. policies. His work has appeared on Tehran Times, Mehr News, Press TV, Iran Daily, IRIB, Fars News, Palestine Chronicle, Salem-News, Khabar Online, Imam Reza Network, Habilian Association, Shiite News, Countercurrents, Uruknet, Turkish Weekly, and Hezbollah. In addition, he has frequently appeared as a guest commentator on Press TV, Al Etejah, and Alalam. A dissenting voice from the “Belly of the Beast”, he currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA.

September 4, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Congressional Research Service Expert and Gulf Lobbyist Headline MEK Event

By outward appearances, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), the ex-terrorist Iranian opposition group hell-bent on regime change, appears to be losing their influence in the media. The group’s allegations about Iran’s nuclear program are met with increased skepticism after, for example, photographic evidence of “Lavizan-3,” a secret uranium enrichment facility in suburban Tehran, was revealed to be a stock photo from an Iranian safe company. But their spotty track record on providing verifiable information from inside Iran hasn’t stopped the group from gaining the support of Washington’s biggest Iran hawks—and, more recently, anti-Iran ideologues associated closely with Arab kingdoms in the Persian Gulf.

The MEK’s latest purported revelation, exclusively reported in the UK tabloid, The Daily Mail, is that Iran commands 60,000 pro-Assad fighters in Syria, has spent as much as $100 billion in Syria since 2011, and maintains a secret command post near the Damascus airport. The fact that Iran is supporting the Syrian government comes as no surprise, but the scale of its involvement, if true, would mean Iran is far more deeply invested than was previously thought. But the Daily Mail’s reporting on the MEK’s allegations provides little evidence to back up the tough-to-swallow claim that Iranian led forces outnumber the Syrian army.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the MEK’s political front, will present its findings tomorrow at its Washington offices with a panel discussion featuring, among others, Dr. Kenneth Katzman, a prominent Iran expert at the taxpayer-funded Congressional Research Service (CRS), and Amb. Adam Ereli, a lobbyist for Qatar and former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain.

Katzman’s participation in the panel is particularly surprising, given his previous critical writings about the group. In 2010, he authored a CRS report featuring a section on the MEK, which he characterized as advocating “Marxism blended with Islamic tenets,” a fact that the MEK—despite its well-documented history—now denies. Katzman cited a 2007 State Department report which “notes the group’s promotion of women in its ranks and again emphasizes the group’s ‘cult-like’ character, including the indoctrination of its members and separation of family members, including children, from its activists.” And in 2012, Katzman warned about exiled opposition groups like the MEK, comparing them to the internal Iranian opposition Green Movement:

Some groups have been committed to the replacement of the regime virtually since its inception, and have used violence to achieve their objectives. Their current linkages to the Green Movement are tenuous, if existing at all, and some indications suggest these movements want to dominate any coalition that might topple the regime.

Katzman did not respond to questions about his decision to participate in the panel.

In contrast to Katzman, J. Adam Ereli, another MEK panelist, is an often-quoted critic of the Iran deal in the media and lobbyist for one of Iran’s biggest regional rivals, Qatar. Over the past year, news outlets have consistently failed to disclose his work on behalf of Qatar when publishing his attacks on the White House’s nuclear diplomacy.

Ereli, along with former Rep. Vin Weber (R-MN), is listed as “personally and substantially involved in the performance” of Mercury’s work on behalf of Qatar, according to the 2015 contract between Mercury Public Affairs, where Ereli is a vice-chairman, and Qatar. Qatar pays Mercury $100,000 per month for Ereli and Weber’s services. That contract has been extended twice and now continues until the end of 2016. Ereli didn’t respond to a question about whether he was appearing on the panel in a personal capacity or as a lobbyist for Qatar.

The Thursday appearance on the panel won’t be the first time that Ereli has participated in one of MEK’s events. In July, 2014, Ereli appeared at a Capitol Hill event hosted by the Organization of Iranian American Communities, a coalition whose sole purpose is supporting the MEK, and praised the NCRI. He noted, contra Katzman’s assessment, that the MEK was a voice for Iranians who are dissatisfied with the country’s leadership, saying, “Outside of Iran, and both inside of Iran, there is a credible organization that helps channel that dissent, that is the NCRI or Mojahedin-e Khalq.”

While the MEK and many of its stateside boosters promote the group as the legitimate Iranian opposition, impartial Iran experts believe the group lost any popularity and legitimacy it once held inside Iran thanks to its decision to fight alongside Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. Ereli also spoke at another pro-MEK Hill event in 2015 and attended the NCRI’s Nowruz (Iranian New Year) celebration in March.

Ereli wouldn’t be the first MEK-advocate with Sunni-Gulf ties to jump on the MEK’s bandwagon. Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud, the former head of the Saudi intelligence agency and longtime ambassador to the U.S., praised MEK leader Maryam Rajavi at the group’s annual gathering last July, in Paris. Prince Turki’s appearance, and his show of open support for the MEK, lends new credence to the rumors that the Sunni Gulf states are a possible source for the group’s mysterious funding.

About the Author

Eli Clifton reports on money in politics and US foreign policy. Eli previously reported for the American Independent New Network, ThinkProgress, and Inter Press Service.

September 1, 2016 0 comments

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s ambivalent relationship to terrorism

Saudi Arabia is often accused of supporting jihadist groups. Now, the monarchy is helping Berlin’s security authorities in the fight against terror. What appears to be a contradiction is not.

A jihadi inspired rampage in a regional train near Würzburg; and a bomb attack – designed to kill a large number of people but gone awry – in Ansbach: Both attacks were supposedly orchestrated by men in Saudi Arabia that gave the attackers instructions from afar, via chat.

That is the story the German magazine “Spiegel” is reporting in connection to chat protocols in the possession of federal agencies. The magazine also refers to information provided by a high-ranking government official in the Saudi capital Riyadh. According to the official, several telephone numbers show that the two young men were in close contact with the terrorist organization “Islamic State” (IS) in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government has now announced comprehensive cooperation with Germany in investigating the recent attacks in Bavaria.

For years, Saudi Arabia has been the source of what has appeared to be contradictory information. First, the country is accused of exporting an extremely conservative strain of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, which also happens to be the kingdom’s state religion. Shortly after the outbreak of war in Syria, accusations that the monarchy was financing jihadi groups that were not only seeking to topple the Assad government but also create a new “caliphate” under the control of the terror organization “Islamic State” (IS), grew louder. And finally, for years the West has considered Saudi Arabia to be an important partner in the fight against jihadist terror.

Dubious commitment

Sebastian Sons, Middle East expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), tells DW that the news is not as contradictory as it initially seems. “The Saudi government has been involved in the fight against terror since the attacks on America in September 2001. That was partially a reaction to US pressure. But it was also because institutions in the kingdom were increasingly the target of jihadist attacks as well, first by al-Qaeda and later ‘IS.’”

At the same time there are a number of religious foundations in the country, and some of these, as well as a number of wealthy individuals, have great sympathy for the aims of “IS” and provide the organization with financing. “Such money transactions are now being very closely monitored.” Yet, there is no way to exert total control over them. “Firstly, Saudi Arabia doesn’t have the capacity to do so. And secondly, one has to say that there is serious doubt about whether they have the political will to do so.”

Nevertheless, even if the royal house had the will, it would be able to do little about it. Because the House of Saud, which has controlled the country since it was founded in the eighteenth century, is totally dependent upon the conservative Wahhabis. It is the religious movement that lends the Sauds the ideological legitimacy upon which their rule is based.

Alliance between religion and politics

The moral foundation for the rule of the Sauds was established by a religious scholar hailing from an area near what is now the capital Riyadh. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, as the scholar was known, was born in 1703, the son of a judge.

Ibn Wahhab developed an entirely new criteria with which to judge the legitimacy of regional rulers. This legitimacy, he said, only existed as long as rulers abided by the tenets of religious faith. Political leaders, according to Wahhab, must comply to the will of god in all that they do. Should they fail to do so, they forfeit their legitimacy.

Thus, subjects were given a clear criteria with which to judge their rulers: Do their actions express the will of god, or not? It was a radically emancipating idea, yet it carried the seed of later abuses in it from the start: For who determines what god’s will is?

Ibn Wahhab came up with a unique solution to the problem: He directly tied religious power to political power. And he did so by seeking out an alliance with the most powerful partner of his day: Prince Saud l., ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Muhammad al-Saud, the conquerer of the Emirate of Diriyah, the first Saudi state. The prince secured the theological power of his religious partner with his own military might. And in return, the legitimacy of his political rule received the scholar’s religious blessing.

The alliance between these two families, the ruling Sauds and the descendants of ibn-Wahhab responsible for answering all religious questions in the kingdom, has continued to hold until this day.

Unresolved dilemma

This alliance, by necessity, also determines the royal family’s current reaction to terror. “The royal family sees terrorism as an extreme security threat, but it still has to align itself with the Wahhabi scholars in terms of ideology,” says Sebastian Sons. This means that the monarchy is constantly forced to tolerate its – at times radical – world view. They rarely have the luxury of refusing to give their support. “The structure of the Saudi state is based upon the alliance between Wahhabi scholarship and the House of Saud. That is a unsolvable dilemma for the royal family, even today.”

That means that the rest of the world will have to live with the reality of more attacks being orchestrated from Saudi Arabia. As long as ideological extremism cannot be overcome, security measures can only help to a point.

August 27, 2016 0 comments

Professor Paul Sheldon Foote

Mahmoud Abbas not representative of Palestinians

Press TV has interviewed Paul Sheldon Foote, a professor at the California State University, about a recent meeting between the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the ringleader of anti-Iran terrorist group, Mujahedin Khalq Organization, in the French capital of Paris late Saturday.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What do you make of this meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Maryam Rajavi?

Foote: It’s an outrageous blow to those of us who support both Iran and the Palestinians and the people of Gaza. Here you have a traitor who many call the quisling of Palestine. And for the people don’t know what quisling is, quisling was the Norwegian who was executed for having worked with the Nazis during World War II. But here’s a man who supports fully the leadership in Israel who is supporting the evil aims of the leaders of Saudi Arabia who have been funding the Mujahedin Khalq communist terrorists and who are doing anything they can to fund terrorism in the region. And at the same time the Palestinians have been asking people such as myself to support their cause. Well, it’s not possible for us to support the cause of someone who supports communist terrorists. They’ve got to pick their sides.

Press TV: What kind of a message is Mahmoud Abbas trying to send by setting up this meeting with the leader of the MKO?

Foote: He’s trying to show that he supports entirely the agenda of the Zionists and the neo-conservatives and the neo-Trotskyites that he will represent their interests in Palestine. He’s not even elected anymore. He is claiming to be a leader once in last election of Palestine. Who elected him? Why doesn’t anyone speak for him? Why does he speak for anyone in Palestine?

Press TV: Of course as we just mentioned Palestinian resistance groups have denounced this meeting between Abbas and the leader of the Mujahidin Khalq Organization. What does that mean basically on the ground when it comes to that axis of resistance when it comes to standing up against Israeli oppression on Palestinian land?

Foote: Well, there are many people in Gaza and in Palestine who suffer very much from the Israeli occupation. Even though Mahmoud Abbas isn’t suffering. He’s profiting from it. Everyone else in Palestine and Gaza should be definitely protesting him and getting him out of the country.

August 9, 2016 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan raps SA over ‘MKO support’

A high ranking official of Iraq’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party harshly criticized Saudi Arabia over Turki Al- Faisal’s participation in anti-Iran Mujahedin e-Khalq organization’s Paris gathering on July 9.

Calling Faisal’s attendance at MKO’s controversial gathering in Paris a strategic mistake, Molla Bakhtiar, chief of executive Body of PUK political bureau, harshly criticized Saudi Arabia and said: “The move led the Iraqi people to deem Saudi Arabia an enemy state and state sponsor of terrorism,” Iraqi news website Alrafedin reported.

The Kurdish Iraqi official included: “MKO is an armed terrorist group comprised of a number of Iranian dissidents that has a black record of conducting crimes against Iraqi nation and the Kurdish people.”

He also added: “I demand Saudi officials to formally apologize Iraqi people and stop supporting the terrorist group. We acknowledge no difference between the ISIS and the MKO; They are two sides of the same coin and there is no excuse for supporting them.”

Known as a cult with a long record of terrorist activities, the MKO held its annual anti-Iran gathering in Paris on July 9, attended by cult members and a number of former officials from the U.S. and some Arab countries including Saudi Prince, Turki Al-Faisal. Former Saudi intelligence chief’s support of a terrorist group and his remarks in their gathering calling for the ‘overthrow of Iranian government’ made some controversies over the past few days.

August 9, 2016 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Were Saudis behind Abbas-MEK meeting?

Three weeks after former Saudi intelligence head Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud attended a rally for the Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) and called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Maryam Rajavi in Paris.

A meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Mujahedeen-e-Khalq Maryam Rajavi in Paris has sparked both Iranian and Palestinian suspicion about Saudi Arabia’s ties to the Palestinian Authority.

According to the MEK, the meeting took place to discuss fighting fundamentalism and terrorism in the region. Iran, which accuses the MEK of being behind assassinations and bombings resulting in the deaths of thousands over the last 37 years, criticized the meeting. “[Abbas’] problem is that he does not focus on pursuing the rights of the Palestinian people,” said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the former deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs and current foreign policy adviser to parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. He called the meeting “support for terrorism” and said that it will neither weaken Israel nor liberate Jerusalem. Hossein Sheikholeslam, an adviser for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said that the MEK is supported by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia and called Abbas a “puppet of America.”

Iran is one of the main sponsors of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) rivals for power in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. According to Fars News Agency, a coalition of Palestinian groups condemned Abbas’ meeting. A statement by the group read that the meeting can only hurt relations between Palestinian groups and Iran, which has helped Palestinian resistance groups more than Arab countries have since the 1979 revolution. The statement viewed Abbas’ meeting as being in line with Saudi policies in the region, and given the recent closeness between Saudi Arabia and Israel, “the negative consequences of this action will be a hundred fold.” Ten Palestinian groups, most notably the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has close ties to Iran, signed the statement.

A number of Iranian analysts viewed the meeting as an extension of the Saudi-Iranian regional rivalry. An article in Mehr News concluded that the meeting was the result of either pressure applied by Saudi Arabia or Abbas’ “welcoming dance for Riyadh” to strengthen ties between Saudi and the PA. Despite Iran’s support for resistance groups in Palestine, the article continued, Iran has never taken an official position against the PA. In fact, the leaders of the Islamic Republic closed the Israeli Embassy after the 1979 revolution and handed it over to a Palestinian delegation led by PLO leader Yasser Arafat. In the face of regional and international pressure, reported the Mehr article, Iran has supported Palestinian groups as one of the goals of the revolution.

In an article for BBC Persian, Mehrdad Farahmand wrote that some politicians meet with MEK members and take pictures with their leaders, but have little knowledge of their background. However, given Abbas’ history of political activity, he could not be unaware of MEK’s own history. Farahmand wrote that before the 1979 revolution, MEK fighters had trained in Lebanon with Fatah, the political party that Abbas now leads. The two groups had also reportedly fought together with Iraqi troops during the Iran-Iraq War. Regarding the meeting, he found, given Faisal’s attendance at the MEK rally and the Saudi media’s wide coverage and support of the Paris event, it is natural to assume that they are investing in groups opposed to Iran.

Arash Karami , Al Monitor

August 7, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

The American Political Analyst on the relations between Mahmoud Abbas , MKO and Israelis

Susan Nevens, the American political affairs analyst wrote on her Facebook account on the meeting between two “self-appointed presidents” of NCR and PLO:

“On Saturday July 30th, 2016, the Nakba of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas meets Maryam Rajavi the ringleader the terrorist group/cult organization Mujahedin Khalgh Organization (MKO), to discuss combating ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘terrorism’ in the region !

Abbas iterating the need to combat ‘terrorism’ with ringleader of MKO an organization which has been on the EU Council terror blacklist following strains from the US whose own State Department had the MKO on their terrorist organization list.

Now that was not such an obvious bloody joke if Maryam Rajavi who is a self-appointed President-elect of the Iranian Resistance and Mahmoud Abbas a self-appointed President of PA whose mandate as a president was over half a dozen years ago, were not such obvious waging tails of the American dog.

It would not be such hilarity if MKO/Rajavi have not been so overtly supported by the US and Abbas have not been in such clear collaboration with the US.

Saturday meeting left no more questions on mind of those who doubted the relations between Mahmoud Abbas and Terrorist Organization MKO and Israelis. If that relationship was ever covert the meeting on Saturday made it publicized. doubt on mind of those

The Saturday (July 30) meeting came after the National Council of Resistance of Iran (CNRI) annual meeting in Paris on July 9th, 2016 during which Saudi Arabia’s former spymaster & Director of Saudi Arabia General Intelligence, Turki bin Faisal gave a 30-minute speech officially endorsing and supporting MKO/Rajavi.

http://www.al-monitor.com/…/iran-mek-mojahedin-saudi-turki-…

The Iranian Foreign Ministry subsequently summoned the French Ambassador to Tehran François Sénémaud to hand him a strong note of protest over the meeting.

Amazingly enough neither Turki bin Faisal official endorsement of anti-Iran Terrorist Organization MKO nor the ‘surprised meeting between Rajavi and Abbas deemed significant enough to be reported by Western/US media .”

August 4, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Is Saudi Arabia really seeking regime change in Iran?

Just as the Iranian judiciary was preparing to put those who stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran earlier this year on trial, former Saudi intelligence chief and diplomat Prince Turki al-Faisal Al Saud appeared to step up the campaign against Iran by appearing at the July 9 annual conference of the exiled Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) in Paris.

Iran has listed the MEK as a terrorist organization since the 1980s, blaming it for the deaths of over 12,000 Iranians, including civilians, politicians — and in recent years — nuclear scientists. The MEK notably fought on the side of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), and also later helped Saddam suppress an uprising by Iraqi Shiites and Kurds.

At his 30-minute speech in Paris, Faisal expressed admiration for the “people of Iran,” while lambasting the Islamic Republic and particularly its late founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Indeed, he accused Khomeini of trying to “export” the Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spared no time in reacting to Faisal’s appearance at the MEK gathering, not to mention his remarks. What seemed to have infuriated the Iranians the most was that he repeated the crowd’s chants — in Arabic — of the popular Arab Spring slogan “The people want the fall of the regime.”

One anonymous source at the Iranian Foreign Ministry told the Tehran Times on July 10 that Faisal’s statements showed Saudi Arabia’s “stupidity, indecency and political frustration.” Other Iranian officials have referred to the former Saudi spy chief’s remarks as further proof of Riyadh’s “support for terrorism.”

In an interview with Fars News Agency on July 10, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who until recently served as deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, said that he had previously told the Saudis that “it is impossible to use terrorists as a tool to make the region insecure and at the same time expect calm within the kingdom.”

Al-Monitor asked Seyed Mohammad Houshisadat, a professor of political science at Tehran University and visiting researcher at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies, whether Faisal was voicing his own views or Riyadh’s official stance.

Houshisadat said, “Prince Faisal is an influential figure from the conservative branch of the Saudi ruling family. He was the director of the General Intelligence Directorate for 23 years and served as ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States. His role and key positions leave no doubt that those remarks are Saudi Arabia’s official line. Therefore Iranian authorities and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps see his speech in the framework of the kingdom’s policy vis-a-vis Iran.”

Houshisadat added, “The Saudis have been seeking to topple the Islamic Republic since 1979; they backed Saddam Hussein in the war with Iran despite having grave ideological differences with him. Their relationship with the MEK dates back to the 1980s. However, the events over the past two years and the increased Iranian influence in the Middle East prompted them to drop the ambiguity and pursue the policy of regime change in Iran with more transparency.”

When asked about the recent remark by Ali Younesi, the presidential aide for ethnic and religious minorities affairs, that Riyadh is making the same mistake Saddam made when he used the MEK in his war against Iran, Houshisadat replied, “The Saudis are trying to revive threats … by activating several opposition groups, including the MEK, or Kurdish militants in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region and Baluch militants in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. In the long run, this policy will backfire — as it did for Saddam Hussein — but for the time being, the MEK has turned into Saudi Arabia’s instrument to bash Iran.”

Al-Monitor also discussed Faisal’s appearance in Paris with Beirut-based Iranian political analyst Mohammad Sadeq al-Husseini. He said he believes “Riyadh has significantly shifted its regional policy by increasing hostility toward Tehran and growing friendly ties with Israel.” In this vein, Husseini told Al-Monitor, “Prince Faisal’s statement is the official declaration of a previously hidden agenda.”

Al-Monitor also asked Houshisadat what Tehran’s response might be to Faisal’s call for regime change in Iran. He said, “There are two camps in Iran: One promotes direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia and the second camp favors dialogue. Iranian policymakers have always sought to de-escalate tensions and negotiate with Saudi Arabia. Considering that fact, Tehran will not confront Riyadh directly because it knows only too well that the region cannot stand another war — this time between its two powerhouses. Besides that, the current world order would not support an all-out war that would endanger Western financial and political investments in the Middle East and divide it along two hostile lines.“

Husseini, who is one of the founders of the popular Arabic news channel Al-Mayadeen, similarly dismissed the possibility of war between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, he told Al-Monitor, “The United States and Israel are encouraging Saudi Arabia — and in fact would support it — if Riyadh launched a war against Iran.”

He added, “But Tehran is not walking into that trap and instead responds to the Israelis, the Americans and the Saudis on the ground in Syria and Iraq.” In this vein, Husseini predicted that “in the coming months, we will witness an escalation of regional violence and tensions related to Saudi Arabia’s aggressive attitude. Saudi Arabia is … using any means to put pressure on Iran.” However, he said that he doubts such a policy will achieve its desired results.

Most of all, Amir-Abdollahian perhaps expressed the most ominous concern, saying, “Saudi Arabia’s strategic mistake to employ terrorists will eventually cause irreversible losses not only to the kingdom but to all of us.”

Fereshteh Sadeghi, Al Monitor,

July 31, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Supporting the MKO is big waste of time and money

Saudis, Iran must resume dialogue; MKO a big imposture

Supporting the MKO is big waste of time and money,vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Senate said.

Tehran and Riyadh have to make effort to bear each other and restart a dialogue, Nathalie Goulet, vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Senate told Trend.

Recently, the long-escalated relations between Tehran and Riyadh worsened after participating of Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi former intelligence chief, in Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization’s (MKO) annual meeting in the Le Bourget, near Paris on July 9.

MKO is considered a terrorist group by Iran because of its history of assassinations and bombings against Iranian authorities and for siding with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, which resulted in about a million casualties from the Iranian side.

“The most challenging issue is to restore trust and get rid of irrational fears or feeling of superiority between Iran and Saudi. The world security needs both KSA and Iran,” Goulet said.

Saudi Arabia’s important role in Middle East peace

Goulet said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was known as a major oil producing country in the world and stayed out of the limelight before the Gulf War.

“When Saddam Hussein targeted Saudi Arabia in retaliation to the US offensive, the Kingdom was alarmed that it needed better defensive measures. The regional events after the new millennium encouraged the Kingdom to take on a more active role in the region. The economic power of the country grew steadily and helped the Kingdom to establish itself as one of the major players in the region,” the senator said.

She added that with the current administration in Saudi Arabia and their desire to play a more constructive role in regional peace and stability, France welcomes such efforts.

“France and the Kingdom remain good partners in fighting terrorism worldwide and are determined to uproot this global disease. Of course we do have other partners in the region, sharing the same goal and we will work hard to create a stronger and stable consensus to speed up the counter terrorism efforts,” said Goulet.

Riyad is a member of US-led coalition in fight against Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and Iran also helps Iraq and Syria to battle against this group separately.

Goulet said that France welcomes the true efforts of KSA to control financing of terrorism, however, it’s obvious that restoring peace and security in the Middle East will not come overnight.

She added that as the guardian of the two holy mosques in Mecca and Medina, KSA has to play a major role in fighting Islamic extremism.

“I had the chance and the privilege to meet HRH Muhammed Bin Salman and Foreign Minister Al Jaiber in Paris. I fully trust their will to be successful in their vision of KSA 2030. Our standards are really far from KSA’s rules and regulation. More cooperation will help a lot to achieve the goals,” she said.

Supporting MKO – waste of time and energy

Coming to MKO’s meeting in France and participating of a former top Saudi official there, Goulet said that “we always encourage the countries in the region to establish closer relationship for more enduring regional peace. The recent gathering of exiled Iranian terrorist group in France known as MKO and presence of some Saudi figures hopefully shall not be interpreted as position of current administration of KSA”.

Members of the MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where they enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border in Diyala.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist acts against Iranian civilians and government officials. The terror organization is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the north.

Goulet said that the MKO is a big imposture and tries to appear as a solution for a replacement of Iranian regime.

“Anyone involved in the regional policy knows that MKO has no foot print inside Iran and have in fact acted as mercenaries against Iranians during the Iran-Iraq War. Even if you dislike the Iranian regime, supporting the MKO will not help to get a new regime. No one in Iran will support MKO as it betrayed this country by supporting Iraq during a terrible war," Goulet said.

She added that supporting MKO will just bring more solidarity among Iranian people and will create more misunderstanding between the two nations. “It is big waste of time and money,” she added.

By Dalga Khatinoglu / Trend.az / Baku, Azerbaijan

July 26, 2016 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts